


Can't Cheat Fate

by kenobay



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Friends to Lovers, High School, Mutual Pining, One-Sided Attraction, either a swan dive or slow burn we die like men fam, he's a sweetheart in this to me okay, steve is a dork and i love him
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-13
Updated: 2019-11-22
Packaged: 2020-01-07 08:11:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 43,717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18406628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kenobay/pseuds/kenobay
Summary: It started with an innocent kiss shared with Steve Harrington at an 8th grade party, then years later you’re in a fight with your best friend and long time crush and in a fake relationship with the King of Hawkins himself. What was it about that party that has your junior year this insane?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story is going borderline stupid rom-com, and I’m not apologizing for it. Special thanks to my girl @queeny-bey from tumblr for helping me create this storyline! <3 I don’t know how long this series will be, I’m going where the road takes me.  
> ~ Feedback is welcomed ~

You guess you could say this story started with a party at the end of your eighth grade year, your first real, unsupervised party of boys and girls. It would be the first of many parties that would be thrown in the coming High School years, and it’s also the party that really defined the events that would happen in your Junior year of high school.

An hour before the party started, you got ready with the person who was throwing this party and one of your best friend’s at the time, Tina Cline. You were styling each other’s hair and Tina was throwing you a bunch of clothes for you to wear, but also taking back some clothes that she wanted to wear instead.

“I’ll just wear the first skirt you threw at me,” you told her after the third time she took a shirt from you. You took a look at yourself in the mirror admiring the black mini-skirt your parents would’ve told you to change out of if you left the house in it. It wasn’t yours, nor was it Tina’s, it was her sister’s skirt who luckily would be gone for the night. You fixed your pink and white horizontal striped shirt, nodding approvingly at your own outfit.

“Oh- you look- wait, I have something that’ll match,” Tina tossed the clothes she also pulled out of her sister’s closet onto the bed with the others, and went to her vanity, digging through a white box. She pulled out a light pink small hair clip, and handed it to you, “I’m wearing the matching purple one! See!” she pointed to the purple clip in her hair, and you grinned. You used the clip to bump up your hair a little more and nodded- happy with your party outfit.

It was silly thinking back on how much you tried to look more grown-up for that party, helping Tina raid her sister’s closet, and make up box. You both even attempted to get alcohol but deciding against it last minute- “There will be future parties, anyway,” Tina had said, stashing the bottle back underneath the kitchen sink where her parents hid it. There was really nothing you were expecting to happen at this particular party, except maybe finally getting seen as more than a friend by the person you really liked .

That person was your _real_ best friend, someone you’ve known since you first moved to Hawkins all those years ago, Jonathan Byers. Your friendship bloomed on your very first day at Hawkins Elementary during lunch. You had seen him sitting all alone underneath a tree eating a sandwich, and something told you to sit there with him. It took quite a bit of time, but soon you two became friends, then to best friends, and then...well you sort of fell for him not too long after. So yeah- maybe what you were expecting is for Jonathan to see you like this, and to realize how much he actually loves you back- then maybe he would sweep you off your feet where then you two would go on to be one of the best and cutest couples all throughout high school.

It was a crazy fantasy, but a girl could dream. 

“Look!” Tina held up a top hat that she had stolen from her younger brother’s magic kit, “Perfect for Seven Minutes in Heaven!” You felt your cheeks heat up at the thought of that game, do you really need to explain the rules? A generic party game where two people go into the closet and do whatever they want for seven full minutes, “You just- I don’t know kiss and stuff,” you recalled Tina explaining during lunch the day before, longingly looking at another person in your friend group- Steve Harrington. If you had it bad for Jonathan Byers, Tina had it worse for Steve Harrington. And everyone knew it. Luckily, no one knew about your crush on Jonathan- but they only knew Tina’s crush because she had practically announced it.

Steve Harrington was a good-looking kid, and would grow into any even more good-looking teenager, he was _stupid_ cute. If you weren’t hung up Jonathan, you might’ve also crushed on him like Tina and so many other girls did. You met him first when he moved to Hawkins the middle of seventh grade, and was the reason he was apart of your small group. Tina started crushing on him the day you introduced her to him, and word around school was Steve liked her back. You wonder what that was like. Anyway, Tina's miraculous plan was to rig the game of Seven Minutes in Heaven so she and Steve could go into the closet together to solidify their relationship, and being a good friend- you were hoping it would work.

“So what I’m going to do is put my hair clip into the hat right in front of him, and maybe...wink? Oh- would that be too forward?” Tina was going on as she held up clothes to her body and then tossing them when she didn’t like it. You didn’t really hear her- but that was because the doorbell rang, “Wait! People can’t come yet!” Tina called as you slammed her bedroom door open.

“No it’s just Jonathan- I told him to come a little earlier,” you said, and Tina hummed in response, going back to finding the perfect outfit. With your heart beating out of your chest you zoomed down the stairs towards the front door. You stopped for a moment, taking a deep breath, and looking down at your outfit once more. You then pat down your hair, and opened the door, a large grin on your lips when you saw him. He smiled sheepishly at you.

“Hey (y/n),” he said, you blushed as you stepped forward to give him a hug and tried to discreetly pose, which was literally just standing up more straight and sucking in your stomach a little tighter. To your dismay Jonathan didn’t comment or even acknowledge your look, and simply walked by you as he asked when the others would arrive.

Your heart dropped slightly. _It’s okay_ , you thought optimistically, _there’s still time_.

***

“Okay girls! Game time! Put something of yours into this hat!” Tina announced midway through the party, waving the empty hat in the air. All the girl’s participating began to remove something of theirs, such as earrings, bracelets, scrunchies- whatever they wanted. You were sitting on the couch with Jonathan, and asked him, “Are you going to play?” He looked up, then shook his head, you frowned in disappointment, but you guessed it was for the best- there’s a chance he would have to go in with another girl and not you.

“Are you?” he asked, you pressed your lips together in thought- a part of you really wanted to play, but another part of you didn’t want to because Jonathan wasn’t going to play, but then Tina put the hat in your face.

“Come on (y/n), you said you’d play remember? And we need one more girl, including me, so it’ll be even, come on,” she shook the hat impatiently, and you shot Jonathan a look. You then removed the pink clip from your hair and dropped it into the hat. Tina thanked you, and walked away. Right when she was a good few feet away getting items from another party goer, Jonathan had a very negative reaction to your choice to play.

“Are you really going to play this game (y/n)?” he asked, turning his entire body towards you. You shrunk in your spot, and shrugged as you replied, “Yeah! I want to have fun! It’s a harmless game.” Jonathan disagreed, and told you it was in fact an incredibly stupid game which caused a whisper argument between you and him. You thought he was stupid because he made you sit with him all alone on the couch while everyone danced and mingled- so you’ll be damned if you were going to let him talk you out of it! And also - here you were all dressed up in hopes he'd compliment you, and he didn’t even acknowledge it when he first arrived! So you were already annoyed with him when he first even arrived at the party.

In retrospect, you weren't dating so you shouldn't have expected him to compliment you, but at the time it was the worst thing he could do. Your argument had continued, but had ceased when you both noticed the entire room got quiet except for The Romantics Talking in Your Sleep playing on the stereo. You saw everyone looking at the both of you, and you almost choked on your own spit when you saw _why_.

Steve had been the first to choose, something you knew would happen so Tina wouldn’t have to worry about someone else choosing hers, but neither of you had expected _he_ wouldn’t choose hers. Between his fingers, he held instead of Tina’s purple clip- your pink clip. (technically Tina’s, but it was still your item) and everyone knew it was you!

You quickly got to your feet, and stuttered out, “Wait- let him choose again!” at Tina, an aching feeling in your stomach from the nerves. Tina looked at Steve to see what he would think- but he simply shrugged, closing his fingers around it.

“No- it’s okay,” Steve said as he approached you, you quickly shook your head, looking between him and then Tina, whose jaw was dropped, “Come on- we can’t cheat fate can we (y/n)?” He held out his hand for you to take. You looked at him again, a small smile on his face, and then to his hand- and for some reason you took it. Everyone in the room became tense as Steve led you into the closet, and you gave Tina one last look- she was glaring horribly at you and you didn’t know what to do or even say.

The closet shut behind you, and you were thankful you were no longer in sight of prying eyes or Tina’s death glare. The closet was dark, and you found that you didn’t want to let go of Steve’s hand- afraid that if you did you’d somehow lose him in the small space and be all alone. Steve squeezed your hand as if to reassure you that he wouldn’t let go.

“You were supposed to choose Tina’s hair clip, not mine,” you mumbled as the both of you found the back of the closet, you could feel Steve shrug.

“I thought I did,” he replied, you looked down at where your feet were in the darkness as you remembered that Tina had said something about putting her clip into the hat. You cursed softly, realizing your stupid mistake, "I wouldn't worry, it's just a game." He shrugged in a lame attempt to make you feel less stupid. You groaned, and hit your head gently on the wall behind you. Well- at least you could hear the music still, you could manage sitting for seven minutes with Steve listening to the music. It was awfully quiet for a supposed party going on though, you imagined that you couldn’t hear talking because everyone was crowded around the door, middle schoolers turning high schoolers could be so nosy. You sighed, leaning down the wall slightly- and Steve did the same. You both sunk to the ground, hands still loosely connected.

The last way you expected this party to go was to get into a argument with Jonathan, end up in the closet with Steve Harrington, and possibly losing Tina as a friend. You expected something better, more exciting, and less...well _this_. And as if the night couldn’t get any more strange, Steve suddenly asked you a question.

“Should we...should we kiss?” he asked in a soft, low questioning tone you’d never heard him talk in before.

“What?”

“Isn’t it apart of the rules? That we have to?” he asked, you looked where you believed his face was in the darkness, “That’s what Tina says anyway.” Your eyes adjusted slightly and you could make out the shape of his head and hair. He was right, it was apart of the rules, but…

“I’ve never kissed anyone before,” you said with your cheeks heating up, lowkey happy he couldn’t see your face, but then he said, “Yeah me either.” Which surprised you! You knew a lot of girls who have claimed to have kissed him- every girl harbored a crush on this kid and it didn’t occur to you they’d be lying. You assumed, though, that he would’ve kissed someone by now.

“This wouldn’t count as a first kiss because it’s just apart of the game, right?” he asked, you shook your head. Maybe it was something in the air because for some reason you found his reasoning completely logical.

“Yeah...I don’t think it does.” You agreed because Tina wouldn’t absolutely hate you for kissing Steve in a game that she wanted to play...right? (Years in the future you’d call yourself a poor, naive, stupid 13 year old). Steve suddenly let go of your hand, and you instantly froze up, because now your fear of him disappearing and leaving you in the dark was real, instead of speaking up- you only listened for him. All you could hear was the beginning of Thompson Twin’s song, Hold Me Now, muffled by the walls.

Then, you felt the soft touch of his fingers just underneath your left eye, your breath hitched, and he said in a low voice, “I’m right here,” incredibly close to your face that you could smell his minty breath. Your heart was caught in your throat, unable to nod or even speak because was he really going to kiss you?

Seconds past, then you felt his nose gently touching your own, “Okay...I’m coming in.” There was some hesitation, a nerve-wrecking second before you finally felt his lips press against yours. The truth was, you hadn’t ever thought of Steve as more than a friend, not until this very moment. Butterflies bursted into your stomach, and you felt a small spark of electricity on your lips. Hell, you even let your eyes flutter shut and leaned in ever so slightly to him that his hand trailed down your face to cup your left cheek.

If you ever kissed anyone after that, you might’ve held them up to this kind of first kiss standard. Because it was just...wow.

The kiss ended in the way all kisses inside of a closet in a party should, with Tina slamming the door open and announcing that your seven minutes were up. Light poured into the dark space, and Hold Me Now was no longer muffled but blasting. You and Steve didn’t lean away from each other, not right away, but when you did it was clear that a kiss had occurred, his hand still cupping your cheek and your eyes slowly fluttering open as you looked into his brown eyes.

Steve cleared his throat, dropping his hand to his side and standing up, holding his hand for you to take. You ended up getting up on your own, realizing the dumb thing you had just done to your best friend. You offered Steve a forced smile before pushing pass him, and then Tina, and then the party crowd. Steve watched your retreating figure, and then exited too- people clapped and cheered when he did, and Tina- she was fuming with anger.

Jonathan was sitting on the couch still, arms crossed and still clearly annoyed that you actually went through with it.

“Can you walk me home?” you asked, and even though he was annoyed with you, he still nodded as he got to his feet. You couldn’t bring yourself to even look at Tina, or be at the same party- feeling like total bitch. She wasn’t going to talk to you again tonight, or...well ever again.

The obvious kiss between you and Steve was no longer the center of attention by the time you were leaving, all the kids gathered by the door to spy on the net players. You looked over at them, then let your eyes wander to where Steve and Tina stood. He was talking to you, and she was crossing her arms, then talked over him. Steve’s mouth shut, and you could see he was visibly annoyed. Then though, his eyes suddenly met yours and you quickly turned around. Oh god what did I do?

Now you were walking alongside Jonathan, feeling regretful of your actions. Jonathan was rolling his bike next to you as you both walked on in silence to your house that was only a block away. You could tell he was still annoyed.

“I’m sorry,” you spoke up finally, and he looked at you.

“For what?”

“For you know- playing the game…” you trailed off, fearing that you’d actually hurt his feelings. But he just shrugged.

“You don’t have to apologize, you got to go in with... _Steve Harrington_ ,” Jonathan said his name as if the name tasted like dirt. You cringed and said, “I don’t like him like that you know! It was just a game!” Even though your lips were still tingling and the mention of his name made your stomach tie up in knots. Jonathan looked forward again, and shook his head.

“I don’t care if you like him or not.” And okay- you didn’t know what else to expect from him, but you could feel that that was not the case. You continued to walk, inching near your house and as you went on the driveway- you stopped and looked down.

“Oh- I’m wearing Tina’s sister’s skirt,” you said, patting down on the skirt, feeling your cheeks heat up with embarrassment. Jonathan glanced down at your skirt and then away before you saw him, “I’m such an idiot!” Jonathan suddenly looked very uncomfortable, and once again, he shrugged his shoulders weakly.

“It’s late (y/n), go inside,” and you looked at him, furrowing your eyebrows slightly then slowly nodding.

“I will...I’m sorry again-”

“Stop apologizing- I’ll see you next Monday for school,” Jonathan turned away, hopping onto his bike and beginning to ride down your driveway and then on the street. He rode away in the middle of the empty street, and you watched him.

This night, while it may not seem significant enough to throw your life 3 years later into a loop, ended up defining nearly everything that would occur between you, your best friend, and Steve Harrington. And if you could go back- you would’ve done things differently because now you are standing here on your driveway no longer a 13 year old but a 16 going on 17 year old watching Jonathan’s car disappear down the street. Except now, there were tears threatening to fall from your eyes.

 _This is all your fault Steve._ You thought bitterly. _This stupid plan of yours was doomed from the start_.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> because we know Steve isn't that great at writing essays

You had a routine since sixth grade, and it didn’t change that much in your Junior year. You’d wake up at the same time every morning, get ready for school, not wasting time finding an outfit because you already had it set up, style your hair, then go to the kitchen where you have breakfast with your parents and your two younger brothers. After that, you’d kiss your parents good-bye, and then hop on your bike for the semi-long ride to school.

Your parents had been talking about getting you a car, your family only had one that your father used to commute to and from work, they found it silly that you were 16, had your license, but was still riding your bike to school everyday. You didn’t mind, you liked the air on your face as you rode against the wind.

And also- usually about halfway there you’d run into Jonathan driving his own car and he’d stash your bike in the trunk and drive you the rest of the way there. Today was no different, as you came rolling down the street you’d seen his car barely pull up by the curb. He waved at you as he got out of the car, and you stopped your bike before you could crash into him.

“You know I could just pick you up right?” Jonathan said as he opened the back of the car, and helped you lift the bike in the trunk, “It wouldn’t be too much of a hassle.”

“No way- you’d have to drive in a big circle and- besides- I like riding my bike,” you gestured to it, and Jonathan huffed, “Where’s Will?” you asked, noticing Jonathan’s little brother wasn’t in the backseat like usual.

As Jonathan climbed into the car, he answered, “Wanted to ride his bike today with his friends.”

“Oh- see he  _wanted_  to ride his bike. I love him because he understands me more than you,” you teased as you shut the door. Jonathan chuckled, but didn’t say anything else as he began to drive to Hawkins High. Your eyes lingered on him for a moment, that small grin he did when he chuckled still resting on his lips, and you let yourself imagine for a moment how this arrangement would be if you were dating. He’d probably force you to let him pick you up everyday so you wouldn’t have to ride your bike, maybe open the car door for you after giving you a quick kiss on the lips, hell maybe you’d even be holding hands, of course he would have one hand on the wheel! But the other would be holding with yours.

Yeah you were still hopelessly in love with your best friend, and yeah- you still haven’t told him. Sure, it was nice to picture what it would be like if you were dating, but then the sad reality kicks in that you’re not, and you really have no one to blame but yourself. You know damn well that in order for Jonathan to know that you like him more than a friend, you’d have to tell him- but there was always something that stopped you and it was mostly yourself. Your fear of rejection, and especially the fear of losing him as a friend because of your stupid feelings. But having lived a long time pining in silence- you knew you couldn’t go on like this forever.

So today, oh _today_  you were going to do to it. You’d gotten signs, well what you thought were signs, that you should. You recently had a photoshoot with Jonathan in the forest, it was for one of his photography projects, and he had leaned in really close to you to move a single strand of your hair out of your face…and he lingered for just a moment just looking at you. You couldn’t sleep all night afterwards because the butterflies in your stomach were going crazy and your mind wouldn’t stop screaming “Tell him! Tell him!” so- today…will be the day.

The Hawkins High School parking lot was filled with students by the time you got there, some walking to the school building, others leaning by their cars and hanging out. Jonathan parked his car in the usual spot, near the football field.

“I have to leave a little early, you can stay here if you’d like,” Jonathan said as he was leaning in the back to grab his school bag, “I have to get to the darkroom to develop the photos from the weekend before everyone else gets there.” You nodded, usually you’d go with him but after you accidentally knocked down a chair and then dropped ink on someone’s project- you no longer did. Jonathan was nice enough to not mention it every time you declined.

“Oh that’s alright- I have to meet Steve anyway,” you said, grabbing your own stuff, Jonathan paused what he was doing, but he didn’t look at you as he said, “Steve? Why are you going to meet Steve?”

“He asked me if I could help him work on his essays for this year, and we had our first one assigned yesterday- so.”

“But isn’t that due in 3 weeks?”

“I’m  _also_  trying to teach him that to write a better essay isn’t by doing it last minute- you know how he is.” You shrugged, and Jonathan scoffed as he mumbled, “Believe me I do.” You half-smiled, amused by Jonathan’s random 4 year long distaste for Steve Harrington. Yes, thee Steve Harrington you kissed in that closet all those years ago. Your friendship rekindled right after Steve and Tina, who ended up dating the beginning of Freshman year, broke up during the summer before Sophomore year.

“Yeah- okay. Well, I’ll see you later,” Jonathan said as he opened his car door, you watched for a second- he was doing that thing again where there was something bothering him and he wouldn’t tell you. You were used to it, and usually he would come around to telling you, but if it was about Steve you knew you were not going to get a straight answer. So, you learned never bother him about it anymore. As he sulked away, the voice in your head said ‘Today! Remember! Today!’

“Jonathan!” You called, “I actually need to tell you something during lunch! It’s important!” He raised his hand in their air and gave you a thumbs up as he kept walking. You let out a shaky breath- today will be the day. You better not chicken out.

Walking through the halls of Hawkins High was always the most difficult, the hallways were too thin for all these students, having to shove past students who randomly stop in the middle of the hall. It was harder to navigate with more than one person, and you were happy to see that Steve wasn’t by his locker, meaning that he was already in the library so that wouldn’t have to happen.

Upon entering the library, you instantly saw Steve standing at one of the tables towards the end of the library, wearing his blue jeans and a dark red shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. As you got closer you could see that he was talking to Nancy Wheeler. She was sitting down, a smile on her lips as she listened to whatever Steve had to say, and you simply stood by yourself by one of the bookshelves, not wanting to intrude.

Nancy looked to her friend Barbara, who was suppressing a smile and Nancy looked back to Steve, and you didn’t have to be there to know that she was clearly rejecting the guy. Inwardly cringing, you watched Steve’s head drop, and then sigh, tapping on the table and saying one last thing before turning around.

 _Yikes._  You thought. He rested his hands on hips, then scanned the library before seeing you. You gave him a little wave, and he walked toward you.

“Hey, sorry I’m not in the mood to work on an essay right now,” he said in a defeated tone, you pressed your lips together.

“We have to. The earlier the better.” You walked forward, and he watched as you grabbed and sat into an empty seat at a table with two other students at the end studying. His eyes wandered over where Nancy and Barbara were- she had a small smile on her lips and Steve sucked in a breath. You looked back at Steve, see his eyes lingering on Nancy, “Come on Steve- this essay has nothing to do with your love life, maybe it can distract you too- so…” you kicked the chair with your feet, and Steve gave you a look.

“Okay fine- you’re the boss,” he said, you pulled out your binder and started to read the prompt out loud, Steve looked like he was looking at you but his eyes were looking passed you and still at Nancy. It was after the fourth “huh” that you started to get annoyed.

“Steve- would you please listen? You’re the one who asks me for help, but you can’t even pay attention,” you complained, he groaned and wiped his face with both hands.

“I know, I know I’m sorry- I just- I was just rejected once again by Nancy- could you cut me some slack?” he asked, you rolled your eyes.

“Seriously- your love life isn’t my concern nor is it your grade’s concern- if you’re not serious about this then you can just find someone else to help you…” you began to put all your papers away, and Steve reached forward, grabbing the papers to stop you.

“No, no! Sorry (y/n), how about- we meet during lunch- we can request one of the study rooms- close the blinds so they’ll be no more distractions and just-” he gestured to the mess of papers. Your eyes widened.

“No I have to eat lunch with Jonathan,” you snapped, making the teenager raise both brows, “I have some important things to tell him, during lunch, it has to be during lunch or I won’t be able to tell him.” You vaguely explained, trying to beat around the bush of what you wanted to tell him. Steve stared at you quite dumbfounded for a moment, then shrugged.

“Okay then…” You forced a smile, “After school today then? I have swim practice- but I can get out of it early, being the best swimmer and all,” he said in a nonchalant tone. You snickered, not really seeing what the point was when he added the best swimmer part.

“It kind of depends on what happens during lunch, I’ll let you know in 5th,” you gathered your papers together, glancing at the time and seeing that the bell would ring in a matter of seconds. You could skip going to your locker before first period today.

“Okay.” Steve continued to give you a weird look, noticing your strange behavior towards whatever you have to talk to Jonathan about, you hoped you weren’t making it too obvious. The last thing you wanted was Steve knowing about your 1000 year crush on Jonathan, but he appeared to let the matter go and stood up. The bell rang.

You stood up, “See you in second.”

“Yup!” he was still looking at Nancy, you weren’t even sure if he actually heard you. You reminded yourself that if he does this again you’re really going to let him hear it. You’ve read this guys papers before- and he  _really_  needed your help. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> jonathan comes off a lil douchey rip but-

The sound of shuffling and backpacks being zipped shut tore you out of your thoughts, and you had to sit there for a moment to wonder where you were. When you saw a lab table and heard your Chemistry teacher remind you all to read the next section of the chapter- you realized that you were about a minute away from lunch. You were completely distracted- your nerves getting the best of you the entirety of Chemistry. You were lucky your teacher wasn’t in a bad mood today or he might’ve called you to answer a question because of your distant look.

With shaking hands, you began to put away your binder, and chem textbook into your bag, trying to steady your breathing as well.

You will not chicken out today, you told yourself, if you do you’re going to regret it. So just do it! Jonathan wasn’t a mean guy, why were you so afraid? If he didn’t return your feelings, he wouldn’t be a jerk about it. Sure it may be a little awkward, but you were friends first and could work through the awkwardness. A burst of confidence replaced the fear and the nerves that stayed with you the entire walk to the cafeteria.

Jonathan was sitting in your usual spot, poking at his tray of food, something he did until you would arrive. Luckily, you decided to pack your own lunch today so you didn’t have to wait in the too long of a line for cafeteria food, “Hey!” you called maybe a little too excitedly, he looked up at you with a small smile as you sat down, setting your brown lunch bag in front of you.

“PB and J? And a banana?” he asked without even needing to see the contents inside. You grinned and nodded. Sure, it was the most basic lunch to exist, but it was your favorite, “You want me to get you a soda or something?” he was already pulling his wallet out, and standing up. You quickly shook your head because if he left now you’d probably run away.

“No I’m okay! Urm- how did the photos turn out?” you asked, starting out with small talk first before making a smooth transition into the confession of your feelings. Jonathan settled back in his seat, and he began to tell you how he arrived extra early to the photography room, but that everyone else in his class also had the idea so he didn’t get around to doing it.

“Bummer- I was hoping I could have one of those photos too,” you said.

“Maybe after school it’d be more available, if you’d like to come- you could wait outside the room of course,” he said, referring to your ink incident.

“Oh- I have to wait for you anyway,” you smiled, and Jonathan returned it with a smile of his own, you felt your heart swell up, and you blurted out, “Hey can I tell you something first? It’s something that I wanted to tell you for a while now, and I don’t think I can keep it a secret anymore.” Jonathan tilted his head.

“Oh...okay- I’m listening,” he nodded at you to continue. Your cheeks grew hot, and you found yourself looking at your unopened lunch bag, and gently chewing the inside of your cheek, trying to force yourself to just say it.

“Okay Jonathan I-”

But before you could finish that sentence, a new voice interrupted you.

“Hey (y/n),” Steve suddenly appeared in the empty spot next to you, making you jump slightly, “Sorry to interrupt whatever is going on here- but-” Steve merely glanced at Jonathan who was frowning before resting his eyes on you, “I talked to my swim coach about skipping out on practice- and we came up with an arrangement- every Tuesday and Thursday we can work for the full hour in the library after class.”

You blinked, “It’s Monday.”

“Yeah I can come today still! but I have to leave in the last 20 minutes to see how the freshman swimmers are doing, you know- I am the best swimmer and they need some advice...” he shrugged, and there he goes again. Who exactly are you trying to impress here Steve? You wondered as you glanced over Jonathan. He was looking forward, a distant, annoyed look in his eyes.

“Okay? Well- that’s actually good.” You weren’t lying, it did sound a good arrangement for him, he was the best swimmer according to the school records and himself-  _oh what are you doing?_  Why are you letting Steve distract you from telling Jonathan your feelings? This couldn’t wait until after? How could he choose a more inconvenient time for you?

Steve pat your knee, something you didn’t really take notice too, “Can you book the private study room?” You were becoming anxious by now, your leg bouncing up and down, wanting Steve to get out of here already so you could get on with what you were going to tell Jonathan. You just shrugged.

“Yeah I’ll do it before sixth.” Steve smiled, and squeezed your knee. You gave him a smile back, then for some reason as he got up, he winked and replied with, “You’re the best. See you after school.” And  _okay_. Shaking your head, you waved as you watched him go. When he was back to sitting with his friends, throwing a glance over at you for a split second, you turned your attention back on Jonathan.

“So um- as I was saying...” you said, looking at Jonathan, seeing how overly annoyed he looked, and also...well...sad? You raised a brow, but decided to continue, “I was going to say before Steve interrupted is-”

“It’s okay (y/n), you don’t have to tell me. I already know.” Your eyebrows raised.

“You do?” Jonathan nodded, and began to gather all his food on his tray, “Oh well then…” you cheeks were completed heated by your nerves and surprise.  _He knew?_  You moved your hair behind your ear, offering a shy smile, “What do you think?”

“You know what I think,” he replied in a groggy tone, making you give him a confused look, and your shy smile falter. He stopped moving now actually looking at you, and he looked upset and annoyed which made your heart drop to your stomach, he rolled his eyes now, “You know what I think of him.”

You were about to speak when you realized why he was acting like that- does  _he thinks me and Steve are together? What kind of-_

“Jonathan what are you talking about? I don’t-”

“I’m not going to dictate you on who to date or who you can mess around with…but with him? Of all people?” he cringed and now you were starting to get annoyed now, crossing your arms over your chest.

“You don’t- I wasn’t even- I don’t even understand how you even think I’m fooling around with Steve!” you said, trying not to be too loud but the people at the next table over could definitely hear you two beginning to argue.

“It’s obvious! Private study room? You ditching me to ‘help him with an essay’?” he made quotation gesture, you were fuming right now because you couldn’t believe this guy and the conclusions he somehow came to, “You could at least be more subtle about it, especially around me.”  _Oh what the hell!_

“Stop acting like an ass! We’re literally working on an essay Jonathan- you’re welcome to sit in with us,” your voice was a bit louder now, the people in the next table were actually looking and even stifled a laugh when Jonathan shut his mouth.

It was honestly moments like this when Jonathan got into one of his moods where you wondered why you even harbored feelings for the guy for so long, he’d snap at you- usually when he was going through some stuff with his dad, you never faulted him for it, but this was just- so ridiculous and stupid of him that you couldn’t let him go on. So as you shoved your lunch bag back into your school bag, not caring if you were smashing the contents, and got up, you glared at him and said, “Get over your stupid hatred of Steve and grow up then maybe I’ll tell you what I actually wanted to tell you.” And with that you left.

Jonathan cursed under his breath, shoving his tray away and then glaring at the other students next to him. They quickly looked away, then Jonathan got up and left too, going straight to his photography class. You on the other hand didn’t actually know where you were going, he was your only constant friend. In fact, you were already starting to feel bad about the stupid argument as you left the cafeteria, and you would only start to feel more sad about it as the day inched to an end.

You’d have to see him in your class of the day anyway, and to get your bike from his car too. You already decided to apologize first, not liking when you fight with him even though sometimes you don’t really think half your arguments are your fault. You just wanted this empty feeling and the ache in your heart to go away for this misunderstanding.

***

As you walked into your last class, History it was, you made a beeline for Jonathan who appeared to be sitting all alone in the back, but as you got closer to take your seat, you were surprised to see that someone else was sitting there, a girl. You stopped in your tracks, seeing the girl leaning her head on her hand as she smiled, nodding along to him. He was smiling too, showing off his camera to her. Now they were leaning close, and you couldn’t help the pang of jealousy that sparked inside of you. Still, you walked over there, stopping by Jonathan and he didn’t even look at you.

“Jonathan,” you squeaked, he didn’t look but the girl did. She smiled up at you, her glossy lips shining in the sunlight that shined through the large windows, you didn’t give her one back, “Hey-”

“Oh- hi,” he spared you one glance, “I left your bike by my car- you can get Steve to take you home.” You clenched your jaw, biting back a response. His friend’s smile fell slightly, noticing the harsh tension between the two of you.

“I don’t want to fight anymore about something ridiculous Jonathan, it’s annoying. So I’m sorry, okay?” There you apologized. Jonathan looked up at you, then just gave a kurt nod, but didn’t say anything like a ‘I’m sorry too.’ It irked you that he didn’t, but what irked you even more was when he turned back to the dark-haired girl and started to continue their conversation. Her eyes lingered on you for a bit, but then rested on Jonathan, her brown eyes shining now too.

You didn’t know how to react, so you simply took a seat more towards the front now sad, and a wee bit jealous. Jonathan glanced over at you when your back was turned, lingering on you as well for more than a few seconds, and would catch himself staring for half of class.

When the day was over, you were quick to retrieve your bike from Jonathan’s car, bidding him a small good-bye (to which he kind of ignored because he was talking to  _Marlene_  you learned her name was) but then you ran into Steve in the middle of the hall just before you were about to leave the building to get it.

“Hey! Did you book the room?” he asked. Your eyes widened, you’ve been completely distracted by the messy events that happened in a mere three hours that you totally forgot! Steve could tell by your reaction that you didn’t and playfully waved his finger at you and shaking his head, “This is absurd (y/n), I expected better from you. Ugh.” You felt the corner of your lips curl up, then you released a nervous chuckle.

“It’s a first huh?” you replied, Steve grinned and dropped his hand to the side, “I’m sorry though- it just slipped from my mind I guess.” He examined you now, then tilted his head.

“Are you okay though? I heard everyone talking about some argument you and Jonathan got into…” you blinked,  _people were talking about it?_  “Not everyone of course- I just heard about it.”

“If you heard about it then everyone did- it was nothing, Steve. We get into stupid arguments all the time- can we walk and talk?” you thought you heard his laugh from down the hall, not wanting to deal with him and Marlene and just wanting to go home. Steve nodded and you both walked through the double doors, Steve holding it open for you, and then towards Jonathan’s car where your bike was leaned across the side of it, “It’s done, we’ll be back to normal. I’ll get here early tomorrow to get us the room okay? You just annotate the prompt tonight, and write down any questions that I’ll answer for you.” You honestly didn’t want to tell him the fight was about him, Steve would probably get a little big headed if he thought you liked him like that.

Steve nodded, “If you say so.” You retrieved your bike, and he spoke up again, “Is that your ride? Don’t you live like...a million miles away?”

“Yeah,” you shrugged. He put his hands on his waist and shook his head.

“No way- here just stay until the practice I thought I wasn’t going to is over, and I’ll give you a ride, we were supposed to stay here anyways,” he offered, and to be honest you were touched by the offer, but you didn’t think you could stay on school grounds any longer than you should be so you declined as you hopped onto your bike.

“Thank you, but- I kind of want to be home like now, have fun at practice though Steve, I’ll see you tomorrow morning,” you gave a small smile, and Steve nodded.

“Alright- see you tomorrow.” He watched you ride away, then huffed slightly, wondering what the argument was about anyway.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a lil bonding between steve and reader

About a week has passed, and what you believed to happen that usually happens after a small disagreement between you and Jonathan did  _not_  happen. Sure, he still waited for you to take you to school, but about two days later she started to join too.

And now, here you were, sitting in the back seat trying not to glare daggers at the back of Jonathan’s head as he talked about whatever to Marlene. She was in the front seat, laughing and giggling and blushing. You had no right to be this jealous, you knew that, but shit could this be at the worst time?

You heard a scoff next to you, and you turned your head to see a mess of brown hair, it was Will and he looked equally, if not more, annoyed than you did, “He meets her not even a week ago and we get moved to the backseat,” he muttered just loud enough for you to hear. You huffed in annoyance.

“Tell me about it.” You looked back at them, seeing Jonathan giving Marlene major heart-eyes. You felt your heart tear only just a little, annoyed look falling to one of sadness. Your heart really couldn’t handle being here, you tore your eyes away to look at the passing trees. Then you told yourself you wouldn’t ride with them tomorrow or the day after that or the day after that!

And unlike most things you tell yourself to do, this time you actually went through with it. Except, it wasn’t as planned. You came running into the library, panting and sweating, hair disheveled, legs just aching, and hands probably forming blisters from holding the bike handles for that long. Steve’s attention was pulled away from the conversation he was having with Nancy to look at you with a puzzled look as you fell into his arms dramatically.

“Woah! (y/n)!” he said, eyes wide and you began to wheeze.

“Water- just please get me some water.” You were completely out of breath, voice croaking. Steve looked around, then took the water bottle that Nancy was offering with a concerned look. He winked at her as a thanks and opened it for you. You took it with both hands, drinking as much as you could.

“Hey! Not so fast- slow down,” he took the water from you, some of it dripping onto your shirt and onto the ground. You leaned down, trying to slow down your breathing. Steve sent an apologetic look to the librarian who was looking on with disapproving eyes of the noise you were making.

“Here sit down,” he pulled out a chair for you, and helped you sit down as you collected yourself, finally getting to a nice, normal heart rate, “You look like you just ran a marathon.” He was leaning over to you, giving you a concerned look. You took another sip of the water, letting out a breath.

“I rode my bike to school today,” you finally explained, “That’s why I’m late, sorry for coming in here like I was dying and uh-” you looked at the water, noticing it was nearly gone, “Sorry about this…” Nancy smiled.

“It’s okay, you needed it.” You looked at her, not realizing it was her water bottle. Steve was looking at her with a dreamy look in his eyes, making you inwardly cringe. You snickered and Steve snapped out of his dreamy state and had his attention back on you.

“Wait- you rode your bike to school today?” Steve asked, “I thought Jonathan takes you to school.”

“He does- well he used to. I’d rather come in here everyday dying and drinking other people’s waters than get a front row seat to the Jonathan gives Marlene heart eyes for 20 minutes while somehow not crashing the car show,” you grumbled, not even realizing what you just said. Steve tilted his head for a second, then hummed.

“Wait what?” You looked at him now.

“Hm?”

“I don’t get it-” The bell rang, and you groaned, really  _really_  not wanting to deal with class right now in your condition, Steve pat your shoulder and laughed completely forgoing his earlier confusion, “You don’t look too good. Come on, let’s get you to the nurse’s office.” He helped you to your feet, letting you lean against him and looked at Nancy, “Want this back?” He gestured to the water bottle and Nancy shook her head.

“No she can have it especially if she’s riding to school everyday now- I have another one I left at Barb’s house anyway.” Steve grinned.

“You’re so nice,” he complimented, and you scoffed. Steve gave you a look.

“Want my help to the nurse or not?” he mumbled in your ear, you looked down because yeah you were feeling a bit light-headed and could use an ice-pack or something, “See you later Nance.”

“Bye Steve- and hope you feel better (y/n)!” she called as Steve dragged you out of the library. At the nurses office, Steve helped you sit down on one of the waiting chairs.

“You gonna be okay alone? I can’t be late for class again,” he said, pointing to the exit. You waved him off and replied, “I’ll be fine, feeling better already. Thanks.” He looked like he was about to leave, but then he just stood there, a shit-eating grin growing on his face that you noticed right away away, “What is it? Why are you smiling like that?”

“No reason,” he said, and you shooed him away.

“Get outa here Steve- and you better have written a rough draft of your intro and first body paragraph or so help me!” you pointed at him warningly. The brunette scoffed, and then waved a hand at you as he left. You meant it too, he better have those done.

You were feeling better throughout the day, at least your legs were, but your heart wasn’t especially when you forced yourself to sit with Jonathan and Marlene during lunch. You were staring down at your half eaten sandwich, trying to literally tune out their conversation until Jonathan got up to buy Marlene a soda. That’s when she started to talk to you.

“He’s a great guy” she said, you glanced up at her, “I can see why you’re friends with him…” You nodded, but didn’t want to talk to her still, apparently she couldn’t take a hint and continued, “He tells me you and him have been friends since third grade.” You nodded again, and she smiled weakly, probably trying to find a way to get you to talk, “Well...hey! He actually asked me to be his model for his photography project! He told me you posed for a lot of them- any tips?”

Okay,  _that_ you heard and that made you snap your eyes up at her, meeting her shimmering brown eyes, “What?”

“It was last minute, he asked me this morning on the way to school, you rode your bike today huh?” You ignored that, not wanting to explain anything, “Well- this weekend we’re going to out to the woods to take pictures.”

You tightened your jaw, trying to not snap at her, because you shouldn’t be snapping at her- it should be Jonathan. But he wasn’t here. That bastard replaced you, replaced you?! You suddenly stood up, catching Marlene by surprise.

“I have to talk to Jonathan right quick- I’ll be back,” you said in a surprisingly calm tone, Marlene smiled and nodded. You grabbed your bag, leaving your food and going straight up to Jonathan by the soda machine. You rested your hand on his shoulder, and he smiled for a moment before he saw it was you. The smile fell.

“What is it? You want one too? I only have enough for one,” he said in a short tone, you shook your head.

“No I don’t want one, Marlene just told me that she’s your model for the photography project that I was your model for,” you went straight to the point, your voice low and full of hurt. Jonathan tensed up and turned his head to meet your eyes, actually seeing the hurt and confusion there. Then he shrugged, grabbing the soda from the bottom of the machine and turning around.

“Thought she’d have more time, you know since you are busy after school,” he was obviously referring to the sessions you have with Steve on Tuesday and Thursdays, obviously still mad at you about it even though you apologized, you grabbed his arm before he could walk away, desperate to get your side out.

“Yeah- two days out of the week! And not even for that long,” you said, Jonathan once again shrugged and quite frankly his stupid shrugging was becoming a pet peeve of yours, you opened your mouth to ask him if he was still pissed about you hanging with Steve, but decided against it- not wanting to open that door again, so you bit your tongue and simply nodded, “Well- it’s your project I guess. Thanks for the heads up though- would’ve been better to hear it from you.”

Jonathan eyed you, and for a moment you thought you saw some kind of hurt reaction, but you didn’t want to stand there anymore or even return to the table. So you released his arm and turned around, aware you were leaving your food. You weren’t hungry anymore anyway, that empty feeling had returned and blanketed over you once again, so bad that you even decided to skip sixth period altogether. You didn’t want to be there to see her sitting in your seat, and taking your best friend’s attention-  _if he even was your best friend anymore_.

So during that time, you went straight to the study room and well- tried your best not to cry because you didn’t think you had a reason to cry in the first place, when in reality you did. Jonathan wasn’t yours, never was, you shouldn’t be upset about it. It was his project, but you couldn’t help but feel betrayed. Still- you refused to cry and just sat there for 50 minutes twiddling your thumbs.

When the day was over, Steve wasn’t very surprised to see you already sitting in the study room, all your supplies out including a red pen to correct his two paragraph draft with. You both gave a silent greeting, a fake smile on your lips that you tried your best to look real. He sat in the seat next to you, pulling out a sheet of paper with writing all over it and wearing a winning smile.

“Done! Did it yesterday night, take a look, and tell me what you think. I think it’s my best work,” he said as he slid the paper in front of you, you didn’t even begin reading when you said, “First drafts are never your best work.” Steve frowned.

“Okay~” He watched you closely as you began to review his rough draft and mark up his page until there was more red writing and corrections than actually writing. He felt a bit embarrassed, but it was you correcting it and he knew you were real when it came to essay writing. Why else would he ask you to be his tutor per say? 10 minutes past and you had re-read it twice now, or appeared to be, to be honest you were blanking out as your mind kept wandering to the conversation between you and Jonathan. New questions entered your mind like- what is his problem with this? Sure he doesn’t like Steve, _but you didn’t think you ever gave any signs to be attracted to this guy. Why is he so affected by it anyway it wasn’t like Steve was taking up your entire life outside of school?_

“So- uh what do you think? I see you...probably don’t have a good opinion about it but-”

You blinked, “Oh- I uh-” But Steve cut you off, taking the pen from your hand because he had in fact noticed you staring at the paper while looking a million miles away.

“Okay- what’s wrong? Are you still light-headed? Did you drink anymore water? Eat anything today? I can’t have a tutor who can’t stay focused,” he was in a way mocking your bossy tone you sometimes had when it came to your sessions, but it was all in good fun because when you looked at him with an offended look, he grinned playfully, “Seriously though, what’s wrong?” he nudged your shoulder and you shook your head.

“Nothing for you to worry about, Steve, now to the paper,” you held it between your fingers, but Steve snatched it away from you.

“No that can wait- is it about your boy Jonathan and that girl Marlene?” he got straight to it huh? You licked your suddenly dry lips, and laughed nervously.

“Why would I be upset about that-” Steve gave you a ‘Come on’ look, and you couldn’t help but just basically yell, “Yes okay- that’s what it is! And it shouldn’t be bothering me so much, but he barely met her! And I just- feel like he’s replacing me!” Steve was a bit taken back by how easy it was for you to spill and also by the tears welling up in your eyes.

“Go on,” Steve leaned back, crossing his arms, ready to listen to you. You sighed, forcing the tears to stay in your eyes.

“We got into this argument- you know the one you asked me about last Monday - and I mean, he was totally over-reacting and overanalyzing everything! And I got mad because of the way he was acting- but I really, really hate when we fight, so I apologized and expected him to as well, which he didn’t! And now he’s bringing this girl around, letting her take my seat in History, taking my spot in the front seat, taking my...stupid modeling job for him,” you went off on an entire rant, throwing your hands around as you explained everything, “He ignores me, he keeps on,” you mocked his stupid shrug, “Every time I ask him something, I even just-” You slammed your hand on the table, and then let your head fall against the top of your hand, “And I just don’t know what to do Steve.” You whined.

Steve was still a bit confused about the whole ordeal, so he asked, “Wait- what were you two arguing about in the first place? I want to help you (y/n), but I need to know this vital information.” He leaned in a bit towards you, seeing your teared up eyes widen slightly.

“Oh- it was stupid, it was,” you sat upwards again, not wanting to look at him when you told him, “So like- Jonathan was under the impression that me and you were like- a  _thing_  after you were talking to me about our essay workshops okay- and he just-” You rolled your eyes as the stupid look on his face was still fresh in your memory, but then you saw Steve giving you a teasing smile, “Wipe that look off your face! I don’t like you like that! I like Jonathan like that! I was actually just about to admit my feelings to him-”

“Wait a second! You like Byers?” The teasing look on his face vanished, being replaced with surprise, you felt your cheeks heat up and you shrunk in your spot, realizing you just let your a thousand year long crush slip from your mouth like it was nothing, “That’s...surprising actually. I didn’t know that. I actually thought it was the other way around.”

“The other way- what?”

Steve leaned his arm on the desk, turning his body slightly towards you, “Well I mean, I always thought it was Jonathan who was crushing on you. Not you crushing on him.” You furrowed your eyebrows, wondering where he could’ve gotten an idea like that. He noticed the disbelief in your face and continued, “I thought he’s been crushing on you for years and you were the one giving him a hard time!”

“That’s not funny Steve, you’re seeing things, that’s not true. If he liked me, I wouldn’t be sitting here talking to you about this,” you said, your voice faltering slightly, “Besides- even if he did like me like I like him- it wouldn’t matter. He seems to think me and you are secretly dating and found someone else.” Steve frowned, and then ran his hand through his hair as he let out a long breath.

“Maybe you should be looking at this from my point of view- okay so- Jonathan is mad because he thinks me and you are dating.” He pointed between the both of you, “Why else would he be mad about the possibility of you dating me if it meant he wasn’t jealous?” You scoffed, and replied instantly, “No that’s not it, he just doesn’t like you.” Steve’s mouth fell open, and he fell back in chair, slapping his hand over his heart.

“Excuse me! He started to hate me in eighth grade okay! You know after Tina’s party.” For a moment, that made sense to you, that maybe Jonathan actually did like you and disliked Steve because of that party, which honestly made you blush to think about still, but then again...you couldn’t really remember a time where Jonathan did like Steve, so you dismissed that idea completely.

“It’s whatever Steve, I don’t even- he doesn’t like me okay? Please don’t pull my strings any longer,” you begged slightly, he sighed and nodded, “I just have to deal with it, but I just wish I had other friend’s to sit with. I don’t think I can handle another day.” That’s when Steve looked really offended.

“Regardless if Jonathan likes you or not he doesn’t have to be a jerk to you about it and almost make you cry,” Steve leaned in again to look at you with a serious look, “Just sit with me, your  _friend_ ,” he put emphasis on friend, and it made you smile. 

“That’s right...I’m sorry for forgetting about you- but I don’t think sitting with you would make the situation any better.” Steve looked away in thought for a moment, before nodding and agreeing, but still leaving the open invitation that if Jonathan became too unbearable to just sit with him instead. It made you smile for real for the first time in a while.

The both of you grew silent, and you suddenly felt bad that half of your session was wasted with your problems. And then you started to feel bad that Steve had to be the one to hear your stupid rant, so to make up for it, you turned towards him and asked him about him and Nancy. Because honestly, you were just a teeny bit curious after having to fight for his attention in the morning when you were quite literally dying. And then there was the other morning where she clearly rejected the guy.  

Steve huffed, “Well, during the summer- we ran into each other at one of Tina’s pool parties, we got to talking, got to flirting, and you know- eventually got to kissing.” You regretted asking, seeing the torn up look at his face, “We have a fling all summer, meeting each other places, going on dates, kissing- and I realized when it was coming to an end that I really like her. And I want her to be my girlfriend, she’s really sweet, funny...and so smart, probably too perfect for me which is probably why she keeps rejecting me.” You frowned.

“Well how often do you ask her?”

“Not that often! Just sometimes when we kiss in like the bathroom or under the bleachers or at parties and stuff-”

“Wait! So you and her are still...together, but not romantically together?” you asked, now completely interested. Steve shrugged his shoulders, still frowning, then nodded, but it wasn’t a for sure nod, “So this fling- it’s basically still going on. Huh.” You just thought Steve liked her and she had no interest in him whatsoever. 

“Well maybe you can offer me some advice, what should I do?”

Honestly, you didn’t even know what to say, but you felt obligated to say  _something_  because even if he was no help in your situation, he still tried and listened, so you’re going to do the same, “It’s a bit tricky, so- she likes you right?” He nodded, “And she’s told you?” He nodded again, you hummed in thought, “I can’t speak for Nancy because I’m not Nancy, I am (y/n), but I’m thinking maybe she’s just comfortable with the arrangement you two already have- and-” Steve was looking at with complete interest, and you froze up, “I don’t know Steve! Why don’t you just like end it! See what she does!”

“I don’t want to end it though,” he frowned, and you felt bad and added, “No I mean like- temporarily, like date someone else- see how she reacts?” Steve raised a brow, giving you a look and then shook his head. You cringed because suddenly you knew how bad it sounded.

“(y/n) that’s the worst advice I’ve gotten, the freshman on my team who’ve never dated anyone can give better advice than you,” he stated. You held your hands up defense.

“You’re the one who asked the girl who’s been crushing on the same guy for 8 years!” Steve uncrossed his arms, then laughed. You watched him for a moment, then began to laugh yourself, looking back onto the desk and feeling a bit better. You were no longer feeling as empty inside as you did before. You felt a bit silly too, barely realizing that yeah...Steve actually was a friend to you, perhaps not as long as Jonathan, but still a friend regardless. Why did it never occur to you until now? With a smile on your lips, you glanced at the time, seeing you had about 15 minutes left to help him with his essay.

 “Oh no- can we talk about you liking Jonathan some more?” Steve asked jokingly as you grabbed the essay back. You playfully glared at him. He scooted slightly closer to you, listening to you point out and explain all your corrections.

When the 15 minutes passed, Steve ended up convincing you let him take you home, and you guys talked longer about your problems, he was still very surprised it was you who liked Jonathan and not the other way, and you were not convinced that Jonathan liked you at all. 

In front of your house now, Steve helped you get the bike out of the back of his car. You thanked him for the ride and bid him a good-bye. As Steve was going to get back into his car, he suddenly smirked and yelled,“Also before I go- please don’t ever give anyone relationship advice, you’re awful at it!”

“You don’t know if you don’t try!” you turned around and pointed, trying to defend your own honor even though you were fully aware your advice was garbage. Steve let out a loud laugh, then waved at you once more.

“Don’t know if I don’t try- she’s crazy,” Steve said to himself amused,and shaking his head


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the long wait! also what did yall think of season 3 eh? pretty sick huh I love Steve

Steve was laughing until the very next day about your horrible advice, he just thought it was funny, especially coming from you. He came to school the morning after, the same time he usually got there. He wasn’t sure if you’d arrive early or not, it was a mystery, so to stay on the safe side he arrived early, chatted with a couple of his friends- then headed to the library where Nancy already was.

It was a whole thing now, Steve would sit and talk with Nancy and her friend Barb every morning before you showed up. 

Steve actually felt refreshed about his relationship with Nancy after finally talking to someone else about it that wasn’t his normal friends, that he finally got it off of his chest even if you were no help. You were still listening to him, and trying. That’s what mattered to him anyway. 

But that advice was just too funny and ridiculous, he couldn’t help but chuckle to himself and couldn’t wait to see you again to tease you about it. 

All night he’d been thinking about what to do about it all and came to the conclusion that he should get Nancy to give him a real reason as to why she won’t be his actual girlfriend. Nearly everyone knows or suspects something between them- and she clearly is very interested in him. It’d been bugging him all night that he wanted to ask her now, but there were too many people, so he opted to wait until after 3rd period. A usual meeting time for them. 

He had her pushed up against the wall of the empty restroom, lips attached together. Nancy had one hand tangled on the hair on the back of head, while his were flat on the wall on either side of her head. 

“Steve- come on, we have to go now,” she said, “I’m supposed to meet Barb.” She didn’t attempt to push him away though, choosing to stare up at him with this cute look on her face that Steve loved. Steve sighed. 

“Come on- she knows about us, almost everyone does,” Steve said cheekily, then pecked her on the lips. Nancy giggled softly. 

“They do not- well not  _everyone_ , now come on,” now she put her hands on his chest and pushed him away. Steve complied, stepping away from her and watching her fix the clips in her hair. Steve crossed his arms over his chest.

“Why don’t we just tell everyone then?” he suggested, she stopped for a moment to look at him through the mirror, then back to putting the clip in. 

“Why would we do that? We’re not dating,” she said, Steve pursed his lips together and let out a breath.

“I mean like- how about you be my girlfriend, like officially?” Nancy frowned suddenly, and turned to look at Steve, “You know so we wouldn’t have to sneak around like this…” Steve trailed off. Nancy walked over to him, the frown still on her lips and this glint in her eyes. 

“Steve we talked about this…” Steve shook his head.

“No we haven’t you just said no, I just want to know what’s up Nancy? We’ve been doing  _whatever this is_  for months now, I really like you, and I know you like me too, so why not just...make this relationship official?” Steve didn’t mean to sound so impatient, but he just really liked her and wanted to be with her. 

Nancy took a deep breath, “Okay Steve- here’s the truth...I like what we’re doing okay? And I do like you, but I just don’t want to date anyone.” 

“Date anyone or just me?”

Nancy licked her lips nervously, and then sighed once more, “Steve...okay to be honest- I just don’t see you as actually being my boyfriend.” Steve raised both brows, and then uncrossed his arms, taken back by that sudden confession of hers. He laughed bitterly, and Nancy looked at the ground. Steve pointed at her, about to speak- but then he laughed once more, hands moving down to rest on his waist. 

“So you’re saying...I’m not boyfriend material?” Steve asked, Nancy shook her head. 

“No! That’s not it! I was just saying that I don’t see you being my boyfriend,” she tried to explain, but Steve didn’t find that to be any better. In fact, he actually felt like Nancy just shot him right in his heart. 

What does that even mean? He could be the boyfriend to anyone else but her? Steve wasn’t very clear on the meaning behind her statement, but Nancy was already picking up her bag and books. 

“I’m sorry Steve, I really am,” she said in a genuine tone, Steve smacked his lips together and just shrugged, not sure what to say. She shot him another apologetic look before she quickly left the bathroom, leaving Steve to stand there all alone with his suddenly half-broken heart, and very confused mind. 

The day went on, Steve didn’t talk to Nancy again, or even wanted to talk about her- he had planned that maybe he should talk to you about what happened, you were really the only person who listened and didn’t make any crude comments. You just were bad at advice, but he wouldn’t be able to get you alone until the next Tuesday at least and today was Friday. He wondered if you were busy this weekend...

“Hey Harrington- are we still going to the Football game tonight?” his friend, Tommy H. asked, Steve snapped out of his thoughts, not realizing he wasn’t even eating and just lazily poking at his food in his lowkey depressed state. 

“Huh- oh yeah I guess,” Steve said, not even looking at him and back at his food. Tommy raised a brow, then looked over at his girlfriend Carol. She snickered, and mouthed ‘Nancy’ He laughed mockingly and stuck out his bottom lip. Steve saw him do it, but wasn’t in the mood to call him out for being a douchebag. 

He simply looked up, catching sight of Nancy entered the cafeteria with Barbara next to her, she was smiling and laughing at something her friend said. Steve sucked in a breath, and then right behind her, came you and that distracted him from Nancy for just a moment, a moment he was grateful for.

You looked like a mess today, your hair was clipped up from it being so messy and you were wearing a large grey hoodie, rolled up jeans and two mixed-matched socks. For the first time since Nancy rejected him again, he smiled. Even if it was a small smile, it was there and it was because of you and you didn’t even know it. 

He was reminded again upon seeing you of your advice, and he scoffed lightly and took a bite of his food. 

Although, even though his initial reaction was to laugh, a new thought actually entered his mind. 

“You don’t know if you don’t try” is what you had told him the day before about the whole date someone else, and maybe Steve wasn’t thinking logically, but you were right. He  _didn’t know_  if he didn’t try. If he dated another person like her, and proved to be a good boyfriend- then Nancy would have to see that he can be a good boyfriend to someone like her. Steve’s eyes lit up at that idea, but then it quickly faltered when he thought  _well there’s no one like Nancy, she’s one of a kind._

But either way, Nancy likes him, she said so herself, so if he dates someone similar to her, see how he treats them, how much a good boyfriend he is, she’d probably realize she shouldn’t of let him go. It was fool-proof, completely fool-proof. Steve sat up in his chair, ignoring the looks on Tommy and Carol’s face before they returned to talking quietly to each other. 

He began to look around, trying to find someone he could possibly date. His eyes scanned over where his ex-girlfriend Tina sat, she was for some reason already looking at him, and Steve had to quickly avert his eyes elsewhere. There were a lot of girls willing to date him, he knew a few girls who harbored a crush on him, and while it should be easy to find someone to date just for the time being- Steve realized that would be totally unfair to them. He couldn’t just date a girl to get Nancy jealous, it would break the other girl’s heart. 

Steve took a deep breath out of frustration and let his eyes rest on where Nancy was once again. Now she was sitting facing him, but her head was turned to the left, talking to someone else that wasn’t Barbara. Steve was surprised to see you there, you were sitting right next to Nancy, talking to her, and even smiling. 

 _Huh_ , Steve thought. 

You and Nancy were kind of apart of the same group, you were both smart, nice- a bit in your own bubble. In a way, you two could be the same people if Steve hadn’t known both of you personally to see you weren’t. And you know about Steve being completely whipped over Nancy and he knows that you’re completely whipped over Byers. 

His mind worked fast, faster than it’s ever worked before in his life, and he quickly came up with the ways a “relationship” would be beneficial for both parties- you and Steve. He slapped his hand against the table, startling his two friends. Steve didn’t look at them, practically ignored them as he decided right then and there that oh yeah  _oh yeah_  this was probably his best idea yet.

He watched as you began to get up from your spot, pulling a couple of coins out of your pocket, probably going to take a trip to the soda machine and Steve quickly shot up, and followed you there. 

Steve stopped right behind you, and tapped your shoulder. You jumped slightly, and turned around as you said “Jeesh I just got here could you wait?” annoyed, but you quickly swallowed your words when you saw it was Steve.

“Oh it’s you- what’s up?” you asked, and Steve put his hands on his waist and just said it. 

“Will you be my girlfriend?” 


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The story went in a different direction than planned, so the summary has been updated! Thank you all for the lovely comments, they keep me happy and motivated to write <3

You were tired today, that was it. You woke up late, left the house late, and arrived to school about a half hour late. (You lowkey hoped Jonathan would be waiting for you and you would’ve just sucked it up and got in the car, but he wasn’t there. Of course.) You were just dead tired, so when Steve approached you with the strangest question you’ve ever heard in your life, you weren’t going to rule out that you hallucinated it. 

“What?” you asked, scrunching up your nose and squinting your eyes as if your face was rendering you deaf. Steve asked you again.

“Will you be my girlfriend?” he asked you in a way he would ask to borrow a pencil or something, as if it was just a normal question you ask your friends. You looked around now, wondering if perhaps this was a dream. Steve snapped his fingers in front of your face. 

“I’m right here (y/n)- I asked-” he stopped, and then asked a different question, “Did you get enough sleep last night? You look out of it.” You opened your mouth to speak, but then closed it again. You were sure by now that this wasn’t a dream, suddenly becoming more awake. You realize too that some people were looking with equally confused and shocked looks on their faces that told you they heard the same thing. 

Quickly, you grabbed ahold of Steve’s wrist and dragged him with you out of the cafeteria. Steve was taken off guard by this, but allowed you to pull him out of the cafeteria and then into an empty classroom. 

“Everything okay?” Steve asked, you shot him a look. 

“No! Steve! You literally just asked me to be your girlfriend in front of a bunch of people!” you said, whacking him lightly in the chest with your sweatshirt sleeve. Steve raised a brow. 

“So?” 

“So?  _So!?_ ” You were fuming now, “Are you okay? Did you knock your head somewhere? You-” You were flailing your arms in the air like a mad woman that Steve had to catch your wrists to stop you. 

“Whoa! Just listen to what I meant by asking you,” he said, cutting you off. You stopped talking right away, wondering what the hell he was talking about. He released your hands, “Okay so! Remember yesterday, when you told me about your crush on Byers, and then I told you about the situation with me and Nancy-” 

“Yeah?” 

“Well then you should remember the advice you gave me.” You huffed. 

“You mean the horrible advice, the advice of dating someone else?” you asked, reassuring that this was what he was talking about. Steve nodded, but he didn’t say anything- was just looking at you waiting for you to get where he was going with this. Even though you were tired, you put the pieces together fairly quick. You gasped, and pointed up at him, “O- I don’t think so, Harrington. I’m not going to be your girlfriend just to make Nancy jealous!” Steve put his hands in your face to stop you from yelling any louder.

“Just hear me out! Okay!” Steve quickly said, you were about to tell him no but he said, “I know how crazy it sounds, I know! But I think us dating would be really beneficial to both of our situations!” he tried to explain, but you really didn’t want to hear what he had to say to be honest. 

“I don’t care how it’ll be ‘beneficial’” you did your best to imitate his voice, “I don’t want to do it.” 

“Just listen! Before you decide!” 

“No!”

Steve groaned, getting annoyed with you and then you got annoyed with the fact that he thought he had the right to be annoyed with you for not wanting to listen to his stupid plan. 

“I don’t want to date you, Steve. I don’t like you like that!  And I especially don’t want to date someone just so they could make some girl they like jealous, it’s too…weird and…” you got the chills by how strange the whole proposed idea sounded. Steve quickly shook his head. 

“We won’t be dating though,” he said, “I mean we will be at least to the others.” He tried to explain this to your suddenly slow mind.

“What the hell does that even mean?!” 

Steve sighed, and pointed in the general direction of the cafeteria, “Them, the students out there- you know? We’ll make them think we’re dating.” 

“Are you talking about a fake relationship?” you questioned, and he nodded, a smile growing on his lips that you were starting to understand. The smile disappeared though when you said, “That’s. Insane.” You couldn’t believe what was happening! 

“Look- okay! If we “date” then it would push Jonathan to admit his feelings for you- and don’t say he doesn’t like you because he does, I know he does,” he stopped you before you could even argue with his point, “And then Nancy will see that I’ve moved on from her to someone new, she’ll realize that she does want to be with me.” You were about 3 seconds away from knocking Steve over the head with your school binder, thinking it was just the thing to knock some sense back into the guy. 

“This idea of yours- doesn’t make any sense and even if it did- it’s not going to work! For me especially! I already told you, Jonathan doesn’t like me like that- so in no way would this,” you pointed between you two, “Be beneficial to me!”

“Yes he does! And I’m not the only one who thinks so- just think of it this way- if you and Jonathan were suddenly dating everyone would think ‘oh finally!’” Steve tried to convince you, but you weren’t budging, “And also it wasn’t my idea- it was yours.” He poked your shoulder, and you shooed his hand away from you. 

“It wasn’t even an idea! And I just said it- I didn’t think you’d actually consider it!” Steve crossed his arms and shrugged. You purse your lips together, “And stop saying he likes me,” you said. 

“But he does! Why do you think he’s so pissed off at the idea of me and you being together- it’s probably killing him that he doesn’t know if we’re together for sure, so he went on to find someone else to shield his pain.” You couldn’t believe what you were hearing, couldn’t believe what Steve was suggesting before your very eyes.

“Steve- if I actually went through with this, I would definitely lose Jonathan as a friend,” you frowned, “And I’d much rather have him as a friend than nothing at all.” Steve’s face fell suddenly, and then he softly sighed. Following that sigh, he nodded, finally realizing and accepting he wasn’t going to get you to budge. He actually looked quite upset though, and that made you wonder for a second what pushed him to coming up with that crazed plan. That doesn’t just happen, but you were so shocked and upset that you didn’t want to ask him about it- not until after you’ve calmed down. 

“I’m going to go Steve- we’ll talk again on Monday,  _not_  about this. I just- dear god I need this day to end,” you mumbled, Steve didn’t respond to you, just watched the ground as you turned around to leave. Just as you were at the door though, you heard Steve call out to you, “You don’t know if you don’t try!” 

He mirrored your words from last night in front of your house, and you scrunch your entire face up as you thought  _oh shut up_. 

***

The rest of the day, you couldn’t get what happened out of your mind that you couldn’t even catch a quick nap in the last period of the day where you thankfully had a substitute. Also, people were talking. 

Steve had literally asked you to be his girlfriend in front of only a few people, and those few people talked and now it seemed everyone was talking. Hell in the class before you could hear Tina basically damn your name and doubt Steve even asked you. Freaking Tina Cline.

“He probably asked her as a joke,” she had said, very loudly to make sure you and people all the way in New York to hear.

You wondered if Jonathan heard about it, but you wouldn’t really know because you didn’t hang out with Jonathan and Marlene literally all day. They ditched you at lunch to go to the dark room that Nancy Wheeler saw you alone, felt bad, and invited you to sit with her and Barbara. You froze up again, you wondered if she heard about Steve asking you out.

You have to admit, you were a little curious about how that would work out as you calmed down, you know how Jonathan would react, but Nancy? A mystery that was, maybe that’s why Steve was so engrossed into the idea. But you were also curious as to how you and Steve would be in a relationship, you mean, did it seem that far off to people that you and Steve would “date”? You’ve been friends for a while, hell you literally spend an hour, sometimes more with him after school now. You scoffed.

_Me and Steve Harrington. Huh._

Your curiosity did eventually get the better of you that after school was over, the history class you have with Jonathan was only twice a week, so you actively sought out Jonathan. You checked the photography room, the moment you went to open the door, there was Jonathan. 

And he didn’t look happy to see you, nor did he look annoyed. He actually looked quite sad, it made your stomach drop. 

“Jonathan-” 

“I can’t talk right now, (y/n),” he cut you off, there was a sharpness in his tone, but the sad look in his eyes didn’t vanish. You shut your lips and nodded, stepping out of his way so he could walk past you. You watched him as he walked away, and then someone said your name. You turned and saw Marlene approaching from behind you. 

“Hey (y/n)!” she greeted you, you gave a weak wave, “Waiting for Jonathan?” 

You shook your head, “No- he just left,” you gestured to where he was still walking towards the exit, “Has he been sad all day today or?” Like you said, you hadn’t exactly seen him all day. Marlene frowned, looking towards him as well. 

“No- I haven’t seen him since lunchtime- he was okay then.” she looked just as concerned as you were. You were reminded that that was when Steve asked you out, and for a moment you let yourself think that was the reason.

Marlene walked forward, “I’m going to catch up to him, I’ll see you Monday (y/n).” She bid you a good-bye and began to jog to catch up to him. She did eventually, right when he was at the exit and what you saw hurt you quite a bit. He smiled at the sight of her, actually smiled and no “don’t talk to me right now” bullshit like he’d done to you. 

Then, they were out the door, and out of your sight. 

 _You’re such an idiot for thinking you were the reason,_  you thought bitterly to yourself. Jonathan didn’t like you, and he didn’t like you even as a friend now because he thinks you and Steve are a thing. 

The tension between you and Jonathan had never been this bad, and it was because of Steve Harrington. And you weren’t even dating, Jonathan just got that into his own stupid head. It was at this moment you realized that it didn’t even matter, Jonathan dropped you the moment it seemed you and Steve were together. He found someone else to replace you, a new best friend, a possible girlfriend. 

Steve’s proposed idea and the benefits wasn’t even what fueled you to actually act upon his stupid (or your stupid idea apparently), you were just so over it. If Jonathan liked you like Steve believes he had a real funny way of showing it, so why not take up Steve’s offer? Show Jonathan that yeah you’re dating Steve Harrington like he believed you were, and there’s nothing he could do about it. If he liked you, then he should’ve done something about it earlier. 

You’d bend the rules, you didn’t need Jonathan to admit his nonexistent feelings to you, and even if he did- it didn’t matter, at least not at this moment. 

So, you turned around- and went to go find Steve to tell him you reconsidered his offer. 

Today was a football game, students were already gathering in the bleachers to already claim their seats. Steve would definitely be there, you marched through the small crowd of people, shoving people gently and then finally making it through the open gate. 

There weren’t many people on the bleachers that you caught sight of him in a matter of seconds. He was on the home side, towards the center-middle of the bleachers with both of his friends Tommy H. and his girlfriend Carol. Tina was there too, sitting next to her friend Rhonda. 

If you weren’t so determined and suddenly full of adrenaline, you would’ve probably turned around, but instead you walked over there with your head high. 

Steve was leaned backwards on his elbows, a pair of rayband sunglasses resting over his eyes. He was listening to something Carol was saying. You stopped at the bottom of the bleachers, and called out his name. 

He didn’t hear you at first, but Tina did. She raised a brow, halting her conversation with Rhonda. You ignored her look and called his name out a little louder. 

“Steve!” 

Now, Steve heard you. He head perked up, and he looked around for a bit before looking down at you. You beckoned him to meet you down there, Tommy H. made a stupid scoff, and Carol laughed softly. You couldn’t be bothered by them. Steve stood up quickly, and hopped down the bleachers to meet you. 

“Yes (y/n)?” he asked, standing in front of you. You reached forward, removing his sunglasses so you could actually see his eyes. He didn’t stop you. You took a deep breath.

“Let’s do it, let’s date,” you said, Steve’s eyebrows raised, clearly surprised by your sudden change of heart. He leaned in slightly, examining you closely. 

“Are you sure?” he asked, you purse your lips together and nodded. He eyed you closer, as if to make extra sure you were sure. When he saw the determined and genuine look in your eyes, his lips curled up into a smile. Then, you felt him touch your cheek, and kiss you.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> like I've said, I got insp from certain romcoms you'll recognize! This story is def inspired mostly by tatbilb! <3

You never thought you’d ever kiss Steve Harrington for a second time in your life, then again you never really thought you’d agree to be in a fake relationship with him either...like at all. And here you were, standing at the bottom of the bleachers, practically surrounded by the entire school kissing the guy.

It was pretty much silent all around you when Steve kissed you. You were frozen in your spot, not expecting it. But damn you still felt those butterflies, those _damn_ butterflies. 

 _What have I agreed to?_ You asked yourself.

People were staring, eyes widen at the sight of Steve Harrington kissing you. 

Seconds passed when Steve leaned away, still keeping his hand on your cheek, mirroring your guys first kiss. You looked up at him, seeing his brown eyes nearly beaming. He released your cheek, and then took your hand in his. 

“Wh-where are we going?” you asked when he began to walk away, not even telling his friends he was leaving. They just watched with their shocked looks as Steve pulled you along with him.

“Just come on, we need to talk more,” he said quietly to you, you simply let him take you away from the football field, away from the eyes of - _well the entire school_. They seemed to disperse, making a pathway for you and Steve to get passed. 

You couldn’t imagine what people were saying, you could hear them murmuring, their whispers, and it made you want to tell Steve you were only joking and then go home- probably switch schools. You didn’t know, but thankfully it only lasted a minute or so before you and Steve were alone. 

He took you to the empty, in door swimming pool, the only light that came in was from the windows near the ceiling and the light of the pool. You both were sitting together on the small bleachers, Steve sitting in a seat lower than you and leaning back. 

“You’re okay with this right?” Steve asked you, looking up at you. You bit your lip, but nodded quickly. 

“Yeah I wouldn’t of told you I was okay with it if I wasn’t,” you replied, Steve stared at you for a moment or two, still searching for any kind of deceit or you rethinking your offer. 

“Okay, I believe you, but if you decide later on that you don’t want to do it anymore, then that’s okay too,” he said, you nodded, “Just- thank you for doing this, I mean it- I know when I proposed it, I sounded like a complete _weirdo_. I felt like an idiot for just straight up asking you without even telling you and-” 

You smiled softly, and raised your hand to stop him, “No, well yeah you did sound like a weirdo and the way you asked me was just out of no where- but...you know it doesn’t sound like it’d be too horrible...” Steve chuckled. 

“So, does this mean you actually believe Jonathan likes you?” he grinned. That made you cringe gently, but quickly stopped yourself and shrugged while you nodded. 

“Yeah, kind of…” you lied, “But like I said, I don’t know if I don’t try.” You didn’t know you were too embarrassed to tell Steve the truth, that you literally could care less if he liked you or not, you just wanted to do this. Steve put a thumbs up and smiled. You both just sat there, smiling at one another for a second when Steve suddenly piped up and claimed, “Okay! So! I think we need to come up with our love story.” You tilted your head.

“Our love story?” you questioned, Steve looked up at you and nodded. 

“Yeah! How we came to having feelings for each other, how we decided to date ya know- people aren’t going to believe we just up and dated each other in one day,” Steve explained, you nodded in sudden agreement, “So...any ideas?” 

“You have to give me time to think,” you replied, resting your chin on your hand and tearing your eyes away from him to look at the pool in thought. Steve, after perhaps a second of thinking, snapped his fingers

“So- let’s start out with middle school, when we first met,” he began, “We started to grow feelings for each other, then- uh Tina’s party!” he snapped and pointed at you, “Those feelings start to come to the surface! But we still didn’t act upon them because you know we were only 13, young and confused.” 

You didn’t even hide the very confused expression on your face as he continued, “So we don’t date! Not yet! But then last summer came along, we grow closer as friends, and then- then this year, being together all the time writing essays- we realized that we do have feelings for eachother. And bam! We’re now a couple!” He finished with a winning grin on his lips while you stared at him nearly gaping by how oddly specific and especially how _long_ that was, “What do you think?” 

What did you think? Oh boy... there was a lot to it Harrington. You rubbed your eye, and shrugged, not knowing where to even start. 

“I mean- it’s great, but it’s _way_ too much to remember, why can’t we keep it simple, like we just randomly grew feelings for each other during our essay sessions? And you just asked me?” you suggested, Steve frowned and shot you a look, you shrunk in your spot, and shook your head, “Also! Weren’t you with Nancy last summer? I thought this was supposed to be getting Nancy jealous, it would be obvious.” You began to pick holes in his wild story, but Steve shook his head as if he didn’t know what you were talking. 

“No- I wasn’t talking about last summer, I was talking about _last-last_ summer,” he said, you raised a brow, “You know with the cherry snow cones and stuff.” That took you a moment to figure out what he was talking about, but when you did- you couldn’t help but wonder how on earth he even remembered that. 

It was 2 summers ago, the summer before Sophomore year, and he summer Steve and Tina broke up, not that you had been paying attention. You were working the Snow Cone stand at the Fourth of July fair, your first summer job. Steve kept coming to you in the snow cone stand a lot, asking for a cherry snow cone, and claimed that you were doing something to them that kept him coming back. 

It was the first time you and Steve had talked, where your friendship first rekindled. 

“With that summer, with the party,” you felt your stomach flip, both you knowing what you were talking about but then actually saying it (even though he literally just kissed you again), “You want to go that far back?”

“Well why not?” he shrugged. 

“I don’t know- it just seems a little unrealistic, let’s just keep it simple.” Steve crossed his arms and looked forward. 

“Well if you want to be less romantic then sure let’s go with yours, but mine sounds like a good love story, a believable, realistic one too because all elements of it are true,” he explained in a nonchalant tone. Your eyes widened slightly, wondering what the hell he meant by it being true. Steve seemed to realize what he said, and he quickly looked up at you, cheeks suddenly tinted pink, “Um- for the most part it’s true.” 

You laughed nervously, and shook your head, “Let’s just keep it simple, besides I think they both are romantic in their own way.” Steve scoffed slightly, his cheeks still pink, “Are we in an agreement or…”

“Yeah yeah, we grew feelings for each other during our essay sessions, and I just asked you out...the lamest love story in all history but-” 

“Is it that important to you for it to be a cheesy, romantic story?” you were extremely amused by his attitude right now, finding it absolutely hilarious and dare you say _cute_ that he was bothered by how you guys came to date being romantic or not. 

“No.” 

You couldn’t suppress the smile on your lips, “Steve.” 

“What?”

“We’re just fake-dating, we don’t have to have some amazing love story, it’ll make it look even weirder and actually fake- simple is better.” Steve didn’t look too excited about it, but you thought maybe you’d give him time to think about it more from your own perspective. Also, it would be too much to remember and what if the story just got all jumbled? It would be a rookie mistake, considering you and Steve are both rookies in the fake-dating world. 

You had to laugh inwardly, wondering how suddenly you’re trying to become an expert in lying about dating. 

“Sleep on it over the weekend, and we’ll talk about it again,” you flicked his shoulder, and he tried to glare at you, but failed completely, for a smile took over his lips once more. 

“Sounds good-” he sucked in a breath, “I can’t believe we’re actually doing this, how crazy is this? Monday- everyone’s going to stare at us, going to ask questions.” You suddenly felt your stomach churn at the mentioning of everyone else. It was easy to be Steve’s friend behind closed doors, to talk to him, but now you’ll be on display to the entire school, an official couple. You felt sick to your stomach, not that it had anything to do with Steve. Just all that attention, yikes. 

Steve suddenly rested his hand on your knee, a gesture you were starting to recognize, “Hey- don’t even worry that much about it.” 

“I’m not,” you lied, and he scoffed. 

“Yeah okay- it’s literally written all over your face. You make this,” he tried to mimic your expression, scrunching his nose up in distaste, “face, I see it all the time. It’s going to be okay, it’s actually going to be great!” You honestly didn’t expect Steve to know you that well, because yeah you did make that face _a lot_ when you were worried. 

“I know, just I’ve never been in a relationship...and you’re over here coming up with this grand love story, should we go with yours?” Steve shook his head, and squeezed your knee softly. 

“No- yours is good, I was just being a baby, sometimes simple can be more romantic- and thankfully you got yourself a fake boyfriend who has been in relationships before- just follow my lead, you’ll do great,” Steve tried to comfort you, to ease your anxiety. It did work, slightly. Steve now pat your knee, and rested his hand back to his side. 

You looked over the time, the adrenaline you once had that gave you the confidence to approach Steve suddenly running low. You were tired again, and Steve was more than happy to drive you home. As you two began to walk to the now empty parking lot, everyone was already gathered in the football field you asked, “So um- what happened that made you come up with this whole thing?” 

You could see him suddenly tense up, and your curiosity peaked. 

“Ya know- you did. Thought a lot about what you said, and just...came up with it,” his cheeks were dusted with pink again, telling you he wasn’t telling you something. You wanted to make a ‘hey I’m your girlfriend, you need to be honest with me’ but decided against it. He’ll tell you when he’s ready, or he won’t tell you at all. 

The distant sound of the marching band playing took your attention of it for a moment, glancing over at the lit up Hawkins High Football Stadium. Everyone there would’ve heard by now, given that Steve kissed you in front of everyone. You didn’t want to imagine that you and Steve dating was much more important than the first game of the season. But something told you it was. 

But- he _kissed_ you, in front of everyone. If anyone was serious about this, it was him. For a moment you were back to being that blissful, shy 13 year old when he’d try to talk to you again in Mrs. Glenn’s 8th grade life science class afterwards. Did he just have that effect on people or? You blushed as you inched closer to the car, thankfully Steve wasn’t looking at you and instead digging for his keys in his jean pockets. 

You thought that you didn’t really want him to do that anymore.

“Hey uh-” you said casually as he unlocked the car door, “Do you think we should also have some kind of rules? Or something?” you asked, reaching for the car door. Steve suddenly reached over, and lightly slapped your hand. You squeaked out of surprise, pulling your hand back. 

“First rule is you no longer get to open doors of any kind when I’m with you,” he opened the car door for you as you raised a brow, he grinned, “As your boyfriend, it's my duty to make sure you don’t ever touch a door handle, or the back of any chairs. Now could you please get in? I can’t get in until you do.” He pointed into the front seat, and you huffed out of feign annoyance. 

“I guess?” you said as you got into the car. He shut the door gently, and practically hopped over the hood of the car to climb into the driver's seat. As he did so, you pulled out a pen and opened your binder to a fresh sheet of paper, writing down “Rules” on the top margin and then beginning to write the words “No touching doors or chairs”. Steve raised a brow, and chuckled, “What?”

“You’re going to write it down?” 

“Yeah, think of it as like a contract or something," you shrugged as you finished writing the "s" on "chairs". Steve looked over. 

“What if- I don’t know you misplace it, and someone finds it?” 

“We’ll keep the rules simple then, plus it’s not ever going to leave my room? Worst case scenario my first grader brothers find it, they won’t even know what it means,” you replied, “Now, any rules you want to go over now?” you asked, tapping the pen against the side of your binder. Steve hummed. 

“Not at the moment.” 

You quickly began to write something down, and as Steve was beginning to leave the parking lot he glanced over and asked what you were writing. 

“Just the basic, no telling anyone, which you know, obvious…” to be honest you couldn’t think of anymore rules at the moment either, when you remembered why you even thought about making rules, “Oh yeah! Don’t like- kiss me at random moments!” 

“Really? That's-” 

“I don’t mind kissing you, really,” you blushed, “Just not by surprise anymore! If the situation says for a kiss, like I guess what just happened,” you gestured behind you to the suddenly far away football field, “Then yeah, but like no randomly in the halls, and like-” you make a weird hand gesture around. Steve huffed. 

“Fine, fine- but what the hell am I supposed to do? If we don’t kiss at all, then this relationship isn’t going to look real,” he said, you shrugged as you began to write.

“You’ll figure something out, Mr. I’ve been in a relationship before,” you teased, Steve scoffed, but a small, amused smile was on his lips regardless. You looked down at your paper, feeling as if you were forgetting something. Suddenly, you gasped and would've sprung to your feet if you haven't been wearing a seatbelt.

“Steve! _My bike_!” you cried, putting your hands on the window as you try to look back to the quickly disappearing Hawkins High behind you. Steve cursed, quickly stopping his car and looking around to see if he’s good to make an incredibly illegal u-turn. 

“Okay- there will be no more of this bike business either,” Steve said as he did so, you looked over to him with a blank look, “From now on, I’m picking you up everyday _and_ taking you home everyday.” 

“Are you serious?” 

“Yeah, it’s now a rule, put it down!” he gestured to the sheet of paper, but you hesitated because didn’t he stay like an hour after school everyday. That wasn’t fair to you! You wanted to go home!

“No deal! I like to go home after school! I don’t want to stick around waiting for your practice to be over!” he pulled back into the Hawkins high parking lot, the football game still going on and probably inching towards halftime. 

Steve sighed, “Fine, that’s fair. How about I take you to the school, and on the days we don’t have an essay workshop, which is only like what? Three days? We’ll stash your bike back there?” He suggested, you tapped your fingers on her lap and thought about it. 

“Okay, that’s better,” you agreed and began to write it down, making it an official rule.

“Great! Now stay here,” he stopped right in front of the bike rack where there was a row of bikes, you for a second had to figure out which one was yours, “I’ll go get it.” You were going to ask if he even knew what bike was yours, but he already knew without even having to stop and figure it out. 

Next thing you knew, he was putting your bike in the backseat, then you were finally on your way home. On the way, you touched up on a few more details about the rules, when you eventually made it home, you were about to get out of the car- but Steve stopped you. 

You rolled your eyes, “Starts Monday, okay, stay in the car! Besides no one from school is here to see you be a boyfriend so…” you were about to open the car door but Steve quickly hopped out of the car first. You watched amused as he jogged to your side and opened up the car door. 

"Practice makes perfect," he winked, leaning on the door. You stared at him, then climbed out as you shook your head. Steve gave you a thumbs up, "Getting the hang of it already." You simply got your bike, and stopped Steve when he tried to help.

"I got it, Steve," you said as you got it out easily and set down next to your feet. Steve gave you a thumbs up and then crossed his arms, getting out of your way and he leaned on the side of his car, you took a deep breath and looked at Steve, your suddenly fake boyfriend.

"Well...see you Monday Steve, first thing in the morning," you said, too awkward for your liking. Steve grinned and nodded, seeming to not notice the awkward tone in your voice. 

"First thing in the morning," he repeated, "Be ready because- Mondays awaits!" he called as you were making your escape to your front porch. You winced softly. 

 _Yeah, Monday definitely awaits_. You still had no clue what the hell you just got yourself into.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I apologize if this is moving a little slow, things go by slowly in my life tend to make me go slowly too. Also almost back to back updates? Who am I?! Whack.

It was already nerve-wrecking enough when Monday morning came along, especially when Steve showed up earlier than expected. You were trying to calm that nauseous feeling in your stomach by eating some plain toast. You weren't even dressed yet, just standing there in some socks and your hot pink pajama set.

The doorbell rang right when your mom was coming into the kitchen, your younger brothers in tow. She looked at the door, probably wondering who could be here so early, and sent your brother's to the table that already had two plates full of scrambled eggs and a strip of bacon. One of your brothers happily sang Good Morning to you, while the other ignored your presence and began to eagerly eat his bacon. You grimaced.

The doorbell rang again, and your mom muttered something about how Mrs. Thomas better be carpooling today. Of course, instead of your neighbor she was met with a teenage boy with very impressive hair. Obviously it was Steve, standing there with his hands dug into his zipped up, member's only jacket and very blue jeans. You nearly choked on your toast when you heard his voice.  

"Hi! Is (y/n) ready? Or?" 

You had to lean over, coughing rapidly and your brothers looked at you very confused. 

"Oh- oh you're the friend who's picking her up today," your mother said, pointing at him, Steve smiled cheekily. 

"Bingo! Did she call me a friend or-" Steve titled his head, before shaking off his own question, "I'm Steve Harrington by the way, I don't know if you remember me from when your daughter was in middle school, we were pretty good friends" Steve said, your mom had to stop and think for a moment before she remembered him. He'd been over once for your birthday party, suppose he left much of an impression if your mom did remember him. 

"Oh yeah! (y/n)! You didn't tell me your uh... _friend_  was Steve!" she called back to you, Steve looked into the house and it wasn't hard to spot you standing there downing a glass of orange juice while one of your brothers cried for you to please stop drinking his juice. Steve chuckled at the sight of you, and you quickly stomped on over there. 

"Good morning- are you wearing that to school or..." he pointed to your pajamas, you straightened out your jaw and crossed your arms. Steve winced, sensing right away you weren't happy. You shot an awkward smile to your mother before pushing Steve out and shutting the door behind you, "Oh- did I do something wrong?" he asked. You sighed.

"I thought this would just be a school thing- I don't...I don't need my parents thinking I'm dating someone," you said in a hushed tone on the porch of your house. Steve frowned, and shrugged weakly. 

"I don't really see the harm in it...seeing as it isn't real, but...what was I supposed to do? I was waiting out here for 15 minutes and you never came," Steve said, you raised a brow. 

"Steve- school doesn't start for another hour! Who picks someone up this early?" you exclaimed. He cringed softly and replied, "Me apparently. I just wasn't sure what you were used to- _you_ didn't give me your number so I couldn't call you. Just- whatever! We'll work out more details on the way there, I'll wait out here for you, just...hurry up. We have a lot to talk about." You nodded. 

"Fine, okay- I just need to get dressed. I won't be long." Steve nodded as well. 

"Alright- go hurry up." He shooed you inside, and you shot him a look before opening your front door and getting inside while he jogged back to his car. 

You zoomed past your mom who was nosily trying to hear your conversation through the door, not sparing her an explanation to your bedroom. Your mom blinked, then looked through the little side window seeing Steve leaning on the side of his car, hands back in his pocket. He saw her and gave a friendly waved. 

***

You were once again sitting in the passenger seat of Steve's car, a place you were going to have to get used to. There was no music playing, just Steve blabbering off. You noticed the guy moved his hands a lot when he spoke, it was as if he always had to be doing something with them. 

"Also- I think you should also come to my swim-meets, and some parties, not all of them though, I don't even want to go to all of them sometimes, but you know when you have a reputation to keep up- are you listening?" Steve asked, you looked at him now. 

"Yeah. Something about...uh holding hands and stuff?" you said, Steve groaned. Oh yeah he said that first and you already responded to that. You smiled sheepishly.

"Byers must really be affecting you huh?" 

That made you shoot him a look, "What does that mean?" He shrugged, keeping one hand on the wheel as he stopped at a stop sign. You were inching closer to the school. 

"You've been so- distant. Not listening- are your grades slipping?" he asked curiously. 

"Oh please," you said, as if you'd let your grades slip because of some dumb boy, "I admit I've been out of it, but not _that_ out of it." You looked away from him and out the window, seeing your school in the distance. 

Steve suddenly chirped, "Okay! I also did my entire essay over the weekend, I was so excited I couldn't sleep and then I thought of you which led me to think of my essay. I think it's pretty good." You couldn't help but laugh. 

"Okay~ we will look at it tomorrow then." Steve nodded, and pulled into the school parking lot. You were nervous looking out the window, people were already turning their heads and his windows weren't exactly tinted. Of course everyone recognized his car. Steve looked over to you, smiling at you looking quite scared. He parked in you suppose a usual parking spot, since it was the same one you've seen every time he took you home. It wasn't very far from Jonathan's usual parking, so you couldn't help but look over there. It was empty. 

You didn't know if you were relieved or upset. 

It was a bit chilly outside, so you were glad you decided to bring a light jacket that you stuffed into your bag. Steve stopped you as you began to put it on, something he tended to just do now, and said, "Wait- you're not going to wear that right?" You scrunched up your nose, asking what the was wrong with your jacket. He shook his head, "Nothing. I just have something better for you to wear." And he began to zip down his jacket, and shrug it off his shoulders. 

You sat there, with one arm still in your one sleeve of your jacket as Steve held his up for you to grab. It was the infamous Steve Harrington jacket, sure others had one just like it, but none were like his. None could rock it like he could. You should feel honored to wear it actually, if you cared about high school hierarchy. You removed your jacket, tossing it into his back seat, it falling over your bike and taking Steve's jacket from him. You looked down at it, feeling it between your fingertips. 

"Won't you be cold?" you asked suddenly, watching as he rolled the sleeves of his dark blue shirt down and he shook his head. 

"No, even if I'm cold, it doesn't matter. It only matters if my girlfriend- you," he poked you, "is warm or not. Boyfriend 101. Actually, add that to your list of rules. Now- remember rule #1." He clicked his tongue and got out of the car. You were going to say something like 'But I have my own jacket so you'll be cold for no reason' but him slamming his door shut ate up your words. 

When you got out after he opened your door, eyes were already all on the both of you. You could _feel_ it- you were getting uncomfortable already but Steve was just going about as if nobody were looking. You imagined he was used to getting all this kind of attention. Regardless, you put the jacket on, making Steve smile contently. It fell lose over your shoulders, the sleeves going just a little bit past your fingers. It was a little warm from Steve wearing it, kind of comforting in a way. 

"There, happy?" you asked quietly as you looked up at him. He was standing close enough to hear you. 

"Yes, and don't worry- you look cute," he complimented casually. You blushed, and Steve wrapped his arm around you now, holding you close to him. He was aware of your worries, about people staring and talking. He meant it that you just need to stick close to him, and that meant psychically. You hugged your books to your chest nervously, not feeling quite right with Steve's arm around you. You've never been this close to Steve, at least not close enough to inhale whatever cologne he was wearing, but you weren't complaining. It was quite a pleasant smell, most likely an expensive brand of sorts that didn't hurt the nostrils quite like others did. 

"It's showtime- come on..." he said in your ear. You didn't respond, just putting your head up high and trying to make it seem like you weren't terrified. 

Outside was okay, there wasn't much people- but once you got inside it's as if everyone just stopped talking and looked over to you. Your facade almost faltered, especially when the faces looked less curious and more...well you could say annoyed. Especially Tina Cline's, she actually rolled her eyes and looked away the moment your eyes met. You really could care less about her though. 

There were definitely talking when it seemed like you were out of earshot, and snickers.

Steve simply grinned, and leaned in to tell you you were doing great. You nodded softly, sucking in a breath and continuing to walk with your fake-boyfriend. The hall seemed to part as you walked and Steve walked with you in his arm without a care in the world while you quite literally felt like you'd much rather die than have all these people looking at you and judging you horribly. 

You decided to forgo the library, even though you both knew Nancy would be there, you both agreed that it would've made this whole fake relationship too obvious if he paraded you in front of her the first day. You had to make it as casual as possible, act like he forgot about her or something. So instead, you went this locker first to officially talk with his friends, Tommy H. and Carol. Truly, you hated them. If you hadn't known Steve personally, you'd probably have an extreme dislike for him just because he hung around those two assholes. 

"Oh- so this...this is really happening here," Carol said in a surprise tone. Tommy H looked at you up and down and laughed softly, "Okay then."

"Yeah I thought it was some kind of prank," Tommy replied, you gave him a look and Steve raised his hand. 

"Both you just be quiet- this is (y/n) and she is my girlfriend, so...play nice," Steve said, they stifled their smiles, which really ended up just being smirks. You forced a tight smile, and just waved awkwardly. Steve glanced at you and said, "See you guys later, come on..." you guys continued on your way, you were hoping towards your own locker, "Sorry about them- they could be like that sometimes." He apologized. 

"I just need to get to their level, don't worry about it," you replied, because truthfully that's how you're going to get to them and because they were Steve's friends, you were going to be around them quite frequently, so you felt obligated to at least hold your own against them as Steve's "girlfriend." You were surprised how quickly adapted you were becoming to this whole thing. 

Steve hummed as a response, and gave a simple nod of the head. He pulled you closer to him as you walked, the closer you got the less afraid you were becoming. 

The day went on, and when you finally did see Jonathan it was during lunch of course. People were talking to you now, people you'd never even talked to before such as Timothy Hale, the quarterback, Lucy Thompson, hell even Tina and her wicked friend Rhonda were talking to you even if it was throwing slight shade. You were practically surrounded by these new people at the lunch table, Steve had you sitting between his legs, hands resting at your waist and occasionally resting his chin on your shoulder as they all seemed eager to speak with Steve Harrington's new girlfriend. 

It was in the midst of their questions, and their random topics of conversation when your eyes and minded wandered away, and your eyes met Jonathan's brown ones from the across the cafeteria. You might've subconsciously looked over there because of he was in your old spot, Marlene's back had been to you, her dark hair falling down her back. From how ever far you were, which just quite a few tables, you could see he was practically glaring over at you, clearly annoyed and _not_ happy. You had to scoff. 

It was Steve asking you if you were listening to whatever Timothy was going on about that made you pull your gaze away, and you turned to Steve, almost pulling away from how close your faces were. Thankfully Steve leaned away a bit to give you space as you said, "Yeah! Sorry! I just need to use the restroom!" You even put in a very awkward kiss on Steve's cheek before pulling out of his arms and making your retreat. People watched you curiously, and Timothy slapped Steve's shoulder, starting to ask the real question as to how this relationship started. Steve's eyes lingered on you before turning away to answer. 

Eyes were looking up at you, and you only walked faster, purposely avoiding Jonathan and Marlene before exiting the cafeteria and making an escape to the bathroom. 

Luckily, it was empty, some girls barely leaving and you had half the mind to throw water on your face. You thought you could handle it, you really could- but the suddenly beating of your heart and your breaths coming quick you started to think you weren't cut out for it. You were suddenly very hot, and had to tear Steve's jacket off. You looked down at it in your hands, his lingering scent on it. 

The door opened suddenly, you quickly swung the jacket over your arms to make it look like you were washing your hands. 

"Hey (y/n)," you looked up quickly, seeing it was Nancy. You almost gagged at the weird coincidence of this all. 

"Oh- hi," you said too timidly, Nancy smiled as she went to the sink next to you, setting her bag down to wash her own hands. You looked at yourself in the mirror for a second, then looked down to continue washing your hand. 

"So...you and Steve Harrington huh?" she asked suddenly, giving you a small smirk. You tried to look for any kind of hurt, or you don't know- you didn't exactly know what you were supposed to be looking for. Jealousy? Envy? Sadness? But you just saw Nancy, just a girl interested in Steve's new girlfriend. She looked down at the jacket, recognizing it. 

"Yeah- it was crazy," you said as steady as you could, "He asked me during lunch last Friday, and to be honest- I thought it was a joke. But- we talked more, and you know...it happened. It's a bit overwhelming, I've never exactly dated...especially someone that popular." You were surprised, you were almost having a mental breakdown and was properly speaking without dying. Nancy nodded, listening to you, "But you know...so far I don't regret saying yes. He's actually..." 

"He's nice," Nancy finished your sentence, you looked at her. If you hadn't known their history you might've looked over that comment, but you did and clearly it meant more. 

"Yeah, very nice..." you looked away, the atmosphere starting to feel weird. Thankfully, Nancy dried her hands quickly and smiled at you, telling you to have a good day. You nodded, waving good-bye and then you were alone again, that overwhelming feeling going over her once more, that conversation didn't do anything to make you feel better, you just felt weirder. And you didn't like it. 

***

Steve noticed it, how you were pulling away from him again. When you came back from the restroom, you looked very uncomfortable that Steve had to get up. He met you half way, and asked, "Hey everything alright?" 

You looked up at him, face almost in a pout. You looked like you were going to talk, going to tell him what was wrong with you but of course the bell rings. That bell always ruins everything doesn't it. You shut your mouth, and shrugged. 

"I'm great- I'm fine!" you said, your demeanor changing. Steve gave you a suspicious look, and you winced softly, "Let's just get go and this day will be over okay?" Your fake-boyfriend was still giving you that look, you hoped he'd let it go but you knew he wouldn't. He also noticed you weren't wearing his jacket anymore, just holding it. He frowned.

It was in his right to know if you wanted to stop, he told you last Friday in the pool that you could stop at any point you wanted if you didn't want to do it anymore. He'd understand, after one day, because it was too much, the staring, the talking, these people were all suddenly interested in your life and knew who you were. You hated it, it was as if you were having a constant panic attack with all these people breathing down your neck. 

And that conversation with Nancy didn't hit you right, like she knew or something and it bothered you. You got through your classes, putting on a smile and talking with these new people, you even got asked to hang out a few times by the girls who were literally snickering at you when you walked in. You fake accepted the invitation, knowing you weren't about to go bowling with them or some shit.

When the school day ended, you knew you had to tell Steve. He'd already taken your bike out, and set it nicely next to his car, but you ignored that for now and went in search of him, knowing he would be at practice by now. 

You entered through the same doors as the last time you were here with Steve, instantly hearing the sound of a whistle and splashing and people just overall talking very loud. All you saw as you inched closer was the coach standing on the edge of the pool, a whistle hanging out of his mouth and a bunch of teenagers in speedos and swimming caps just standing around watching you assumed the varsity swim team doing rounds in the pool. 

You couldn't find Steve, not sure because everyone suddenly looked the same. Some of the freshmen noticed you standing there awkwardly, hitting each other and pointing at you. You pursed your lips together, and walked closer especially when the swimmers in the pool were all on one side now. The coach blew a whistle, he seemed to not have seen you just yet.

"Harrington!" he called, your eyes widened and you looked in the pool to see Steve raise up his hand, "Do another round of backstrokes, watch closely boys." he pointed, and Steve put a thumbs up. He started, and you just watched now knowing which person Steve was. You weren't an expert on swim lingo, couldn't even tell if he was actually good or not, just taking his and many others words for it. It looked good from where you were standing. You never seen Steve without his hair though, a black swimmers cap covering most of his hair. You could spot a few strands sticking out. 

Now the members of the varsity team, good friends of Steve were looking over at you and when the coach told Steve to stop- they told him you were there. He looked over to you, and you waved. He looked over to his coach, seeing he was about to get the freshman into the pool this time, so he climbed out. 

And honestly, that was much more of Steve Harrington than you were willing to see. He walked towards you dripping wet, wearing nothing but a little black speedo. You couldn't stop the heat rising to your cheeks, and had a hard time keeping your eyes up north and not at his chest or any _lower_. He removed the little goggles, then even the swimmer's cap, his dry hair really standing in every direction possible. 

"What's up?" he asked, you opened your mouth but no words came out, he looked over to see his team staring at him and he took your hand to see you a little bit farther away so whatever you needed to talk about couldn't be overheard. You took a deep breath. 

"I don't know if I can do this," you admitted quietly, Steve grinned to your surprise and for a moment you thought he was going to say 'oh thank god me either'. 

"You mean the whole...dating thing...or talking to me dressed like this," he asked instead. Your eyes widened and you blushed. He through his head back and laughed, "I mean it- I saw you struggling not to look when I was walking over here." He gave you a teasing look. You wanted to flick him like you always do but stopped yourself. 

"No! I mean- yeah this too, put a towel on or something- but...the dating thing..." 

Steve frowned now, and looked down, "Yeah I thought you were going to say that...I know I told you we could stop whenever you wanted but...after the first day? Come on at least it give it a shot? That's like me giving up on swimming after _one_  loss." 

"It's just weird okay! People are talking to me and I'm just not used to it-"

"Wait wait- you want to back out because...people are talking to you, noticing you?" Steve gawked at you, as if it wasn't good enough a reason to stop, "That's what happens! People talk, people want to get to know you, it's ...I don't know - just how it is. And yeah people talk- but that's just apart of life. Just ignore it." You bit your lip and glared.

"Well I'm not used to it like you are Steve, and it's...weird as hell!" you were raising your voice slightly, enough for the swimmers to glance over and Steve quickly lifted his hand and gestured for you to keep it down. You listened and in a quieter voice said, "And- I talked to Nancy okay? And it just felt weird to be lying to her...and like everyone?" Steve eyes shined at the mention of Nancy. 

"You did, what did she say?" 

"It doesn't matter anymore, I feel like she knows actually?" 

"There's no way she knows," Steve waved you off, "When did you talk to her? I want to know." You rolled your eyes, getting off topic of how you wanted to end it already, Steve caught your look and scoffed, "Okay- sorry. But (y/n)...you seriously want to back out...after a day." 

"You said I could back out whenever!" 

"I didn't think you would back out in just a day!" The other swimmers were looking, and it was clear they were in an argument, something that definitly would get around that Steve and his new girlfriend were aruging. One of even said 'First fight?' and people snickered. Steve glared over there, and then looked back to you with these sudden puppy dog eyes, "(y/n) don't back out, give it more of a chance okay? Like...a month? It wouldn't make sense if we break up after one day- Just give it a chance okay? Please." 

You stared at him, and you started to slightly agree with him. That wouldn't make any sense, and you did already agree to this. It was just one day, but you couldn't imagine a month, so you made another offer, "2 weeks." Steve thought for a second. 

"Deal. But you _have_ to try to give it an actual chance," Steve pointed at you, you groaned.

"Okay, okay," you agreed.

"Also- if you ever feel uncomfortable, just hold my hand or something and I'll find a way to like...get you out of the uncomfortable-ness," he said, you nodded again.

"Sounds good....should I like kiss you on the cheek to show we've made up?" Steve hummed and nodded. 

"See! You're getting it, right here," he patted the corner of his mouth, and you leaned up to peck him lightly there. His teammates coo'ed, and you blushed as you leaned back down. Steve ignored them this time, giving you a satisfied smile. 

"So- what did Nancy say?" You rolled your eyes, but smiled regardless. 

"We'll talk about it after it school tomorrow, _after_ I've read your essay." Steve pouted, then smirked. 

"Fine, fine...see you tomorrow, I'll be there at the right time then, be ready this time," he said, you nodded. 

"You got it, bye." You turned away now, but stopped with the door still open and said, "Wait! Do you want this back or?" you held up the jacket, Steve shook his head almost immediately.

"No it's yours for now." You blinked, looking down at it and just hummed. Alright then, you guess it's yours. You waved and finally left. Steve watched you go. When you were out the door, Steve turned around and blushed when his teammates were going 'Awwwwww' and making kissy faces. 

You were quick to hop back to your bike, feeling slightly more better about everything. It was two weeks, only two weeks. That would go by fast, faster than you thought actually. When you got to your bike, you noticed there was a stack of stapled paper taped to your bike seat. You raised a brow and took it off, reading the note first and laughing. Almost as if he knew you were going to have that conversation ahead of time.

'(y/n)- I couldn't wait for tomorrow, here's my essay. I'm really proud of it. Also, don't lose my jacket! - Steve H.' and there was a poorly drawn heart.

You flipped the paper to scan through his writing, so far it didn't look as bad as you thought. You were definitely going to read this tonight. From where you stood, you couldn't see Jonathan going to his car, Marlene behind him talking about the pictures he developed of her. Jonathan wasn't really responding, not when he saw you standing by your bike next to Steve's car and grinning at the piece of paper. 

"Jonathan, I said these came out really good," Marlene repeated for the third time, trying to gain his attention. He simply nodded. 

"Yeah, I guess." Marlene frowned and Jonathan forced himself to look away from you. 

Back to where you stood next to your bike, you re-read the note, and the stupid little heart, and thought that yeah...maybe you could do this. 


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter gets a wee bit angsty

You couldn't lie to yourself and say you didn't know what people of your crowd- or ex-crowd now- thought of Steve Harrington, or as they would say Steve "the Douchebag" Harrington. Before this whole relationship began, you'd hear some of the things he'd say or do to people you would consider passing friends. Even then, you were still friends with Steve, simple smiles passing each other in the hall. You never noticed it was only when he was alone, meaning Tommy or Carol were nowhere to be seen. It was these moments, Steve would probably stop to talk to you even for a while before going on your merry way. 

There was a bit of black-lash in those days, people asking you why you talked to Steve. You couldn't have an opinion on the Steve they were talking about because you'd just never seen it, only seeing that swell and sweet side to him. You never understood why Jonathan disliked him so much because he never did anything to him- at least to your knowledge. These current days though, you were noticing that it was that crowd instead of the popular crowd who were making fun of you. You weren't stupid, nor deaf, or blind. It seems the popular crowd Steve surrounds himself with warmed up to you and probably, you hoped, liked you while the other crowd made it their life mission to talk shit and give you looks or laugh when you walked by alone with Steve's jacket either on or tied around your waist.  

"She's changed ever since she started dating him," Laura Jones, the first chair of the clarinet section in the high school band, and a friend in passing to you when you tried out band for one semester had said about you. Then her friend, Jenna, you believed was second chair had replied, "He's probably just playing with her, he doesn't _actually_ like her." 

It went as far as you overhearing a rumor that in return for your essay workshops, Steve had to have sex with you, which you found appalling and _very, very_ far-fetched. You were quite surprised by how quick different rumors spread in just the two weeks you and Steve were together. And Steve, in your honest opinion, was a _great_ boyfriend. It was like when you were friends, but with more perks. But all this talking did get you thinking that Friday afternoon...

You like to think that there were three sides to Steve Harrington, there was boyfriend Steve Harrington- one that you had the privilege to experience first-hand fake or not the past two weeks, and then there was friend Steve, the Steve that you know and would argue was the real Steve. A dorky, fun-loving, all-around great guy that would do anything to make you smile if you're sad. Then, there was that part of Steve everyone talks about and everyone, except you, apparently knew and experienced. This was what you called the _King Steve_ persona. The most popular boy in school persona, the rich and popular, get's away with anything and everything persona, the pretty much all around asshole persona. It was the side to him that you knew wasn't actually him. Although, it was something you never witnessed before.

 At least until today. 

The uproar of your relationship died down, people asked all their questions and got their answers so you could finally eat lunch in peace, well almost peace if Tommy and Carol weren't there being the very reason you wished you could move tables. Steve was boasting about his essay he just got back, a C. You couldn't say you weren't proud, you really were. It was the grade you both decided to shoot for first, then work your way up the next essays throughout the year. 

"What did you get huh? An A plus-plus?" Steve asked cheekily, grabbing your binder and opening it to look at the essay that was in the front pocket. He pointed at the A+ with a grin, "Of course. Didn't expect anything less from my smart girlfriend." He leaned in and pecked you on the cheek, making you chuckle. You ignored the scoff from Tommy and Carol trying to- or not trying to- stifle her stupid chortling. 

"Since when did you start caring about school Harrington?" Tommy asked. Steve glanced up at him as he closed your binder. 

"What do you mean asshole? I've always cared- just didn't have someone as smart and pretty as (y/n) to help me out a bit," Steve replied, Tommy laughed and was going to say something before his eyes flashed to behind you. You didn't bother to look, just taking a sip of your water and trying not to roll your eyes because you knew he would mock the word 'pretty' as he had done before. 

"This'll be good," he shot a look at you that you didn't quite understand, not until you saw Jonathan walking by. He didn't seem to be paying any attention, cleaning his camera as he walked on, probably not even realizing he was walking past you- this path was usually one you noticed he _completely_ avoided. He avoided it before, you remember, but now that you were here- he didn't even try it even if it was the only way to go. 

You wondered why Tommy had said that about him, not until he walked by and Tommy stuck his foot out. Jonathan didn't fall thankfully, just stumbled but unfortunately, his camera did fall to the ground with a loud clatter. Tommy put on a scowl and said, "Watch where you're going next time, freak." To which Jonathan shot a glare at him.

Your first reaction, as should be anyone's, was to get up and help Jonathan. Sure, the falling out you two had was just awful- but it didn't mean you didn't care about him or wanted to see Tommy be such an asshole to him. It hurt you even more because you were there when Joyce bought that camera for him, helping him pick it out with all the money she saved up just to get him what he wanted for Christmas, for it to probably break because some guy wanted to be a dick for no reason. 

Although, when you tried to stand up, you felt a grip on your wrist and you were only halfway up as you looked at Steve with a questioning look as you forced yourself to sit back down. Then, you looked to Tommy who had a smug smirk and when Jonathan bent down to reach for his camera, he kicked it farther away and said, "Are you stupid? Can't even pick up your camera?" Jonathan didn't entice him, just going to pick it up again. Carol was biting her lip, trying not to laugh. 

Jonathan eventually picked up his camera, and he looked at you- for just a split second- before walking off. When he was a good few feet away, everyone in the area started to laugh. Tommy crossed his arms, laughing as well. You were frowning very hard right now, but nothing made you frown even more when you heard Steve _laughing_ too. You snapped your head to look at him, seeing he was leaning over laughing. 

"Good one dude," Steve said, lifting his hand to Tommy as they high-fived over the table. You were, to put in simply, in a loss for words. Carol was laughing too now, adding to the fire, "Did you see the look he gave you Tommy?" and mocked him, only making Tommy and Steve laugh more. 

"He's such a sad loser," Steve said with the shake of your head, "I don't know if the fall broke his camera or it just looked like that." 

"Shit Harrington," Tommy said and laughed Steve shrugged, and they continued with their suddenly very annoying laughter.

You chewed the inside of your cheek, casting a glare to the side of Steve's face and you wanted to get up and leave, but when you looked at Tommy- you noticed he was giving you this strange look as if he meant to tease Jonathan in front of you like that. You didn't hide the look of distaste and went back to eating your food, moving slightly away from Steve.

The rest of the day went on and were you giving Steve the cold shoulder the whole time. He didn't question it, at least not in the halls, wanting to ask you about it private. He brought up his essay again as he walked you to the last period of the day, and you told him in the most monotone voice ever "Yeah you told me the first time" and disappeared in class. People might've heard because Steve put his hands on his waist and shook his head gently.

People were talking, the popular kids chuckling about it still as if almost destroying someone's property was funny. You heard from Laura and Jenna's conversation behind you that his camera didn't break, much to your relief. But then you were brought up, how you didn't even do anything even though you and him used to be best friends. You did hear the word "bitch" in there and didn't doubt it was about you. You wanted to curse. 

Steve caught you trying to get your bike out of his car. Usually, he wasn't here and would already be at swim practice but clearly ran all the way over here just to speak with you because he was panting and flapping the collar of his shirt to cool down somehow. 

"Can we talk before you go?" he asked in a breathless voice, you were going to say no, but knew you had to tell him, so you nodded and he led you to the empty outdoor basketball courts. The moment you made it there, Steve said, "I have one more day okay, please don't decide until tomorrow!" He turned to look at you with pleading eyes. It took you off guard. 

"What?"

"You've been giving me the cold shoulder, and I know- I know I said two weeks but it's been going so well! I always catch Nancy looking at us and quickly looking away- I-" Steve began to trail off. You blinked. He was talking about the end of the two weeks where you'd make your final decision to stay in this fake relationship or not, truthfully you hadn't thought about that, not until now. Steve noticed your far-off look and stopped talking instantly and asked, "That's it, right?" 

You never thought you'd be this kind of person, the one to roll their eyes when someone wasn't getting something as simple as this, but you did and Steve held his hands up in defense. 

"Then tell me what's up with you- you've been like this," he gestured at you, "since lunch- I thought everything was fine."

"It was fine _until_ lunch," you said with a scowl. Steve raised a questioning brow, and you could see it in his eyes as he thought back to the events that happened during lunch and remembered. 

"Is it about what happened with your boy Jonathan and the whole camera thing? I didn't mean anything by what I said, I can't speak for Tommy and Carol, but I have a reputation to uphold you know?" he replied as if that was an excuse, you wanted to flick him real bad right now but didn't. Instead, you crossed your arms and replied, "No, Steve, I don't know."

The brunette sighed, resting his hands on his waist and shaking his head as if he knew he would have to deal with something like that, which only made you more annoyed. 

"Look (y/n), I didn't mean whatever I said. Whatever I say to anyone when I'm around those guys I don't mean," he explained calmly. 

You laughed bitterly, "Oh so the things you say to people don't mean anything to you? Have you ever considered that it means something to them?" you questioned. Steve was a bit taken back by your words, looking as if he didn't know what to reply to that, so you continued, "Why did you stop me from helping him? Hm?" 

"Because- if you helped him I was afraid Tommy might think you and him were still friends," Steve replied now, "He's been asking questions (y/n), I was only trying to protect the relationship!" 

"Wow, Steve! Thank you for letting Tommy almost break Jonathan's camera, embarrassing him and making me look like an asshole for not helping him in front of everyone to protect this fake-ass relationship! I'm so touched!" Sarcasm was dripping from your lips. Steve scrunched his face up and now also crossed his arms.

"I'm sorry but what are you even talking about right now? I thought you and him had a falling out anyway!" 

You groaned, throwing your head back become frustrated by the second, and saying what you were exactly thinking, "You act like a different person around them!" Steve's reaction looked unphased, and you were positive it was because he's heard it once or twice before. 

"You don't act like yourself, and it just amazes me that you know you don't but continue acting like the asshole that I know you aren't!"  

Steve licked his lips and scoffed, "What makes you think that's not the real me then? That I'm not an asshole? You knew who you would be dating when you first agreed to this (y/n)," You laughed in his face, to which his expression tightened up and eyes glared even more at you, more than you've ever seen Steve glare at you. 

"Because I do know the real you Steve, it's why I agreed...I didn't even think about that asshole I just saw in the cafeteria," you voice softened up for some reason you couldn't explain, maybe you were hoping he would somehow realize what you were saying and would agree, but instead you got his silence. You shook your head, took a deep breath and said, "I'm going home, Steve. I don't think I want to do this anymore" And then, you left. A part of you wanted Steve to run to you and grab you, but you reminded yourself it was just a silly 2 week-long fake relationship- it's not something worth fighting for. So, you really didn't let it get to you when you did make it home without Steve stopping you. 

Steve stayed on the courts for a while, until a couple of freshman looking for a game showed up. They were giddy that they might get King Steve to play a game with them, and well- Steve ended up playing for a bit, totally sweeping the floor with them. It was something to get his mind off of what just happened for a while, but when he was tired and realized he just skipped out on swim practice, he went home. Or well he was supposed to go home.

Instead, he was parked in front of your house. The sun was barely going down, and he was silently cursing himself for letting that occur in the lunchroom when he knew you still were in love with Jonathan when he knew it would hurt you to see that. For stopping you from helping him because he has a "reputation to uphold." _Some fucking reputation_ , Steve thought. It wouldn't be the first time someone has told Steve something like that, the last person was Nancy when they first started their summer fling. 

"You're different around your friends you know," Nancy had said after a hot make-out session. Steve just shrugged and replied, "Well...I _am_ King Steve." Nancy chuckled. 

Of course, that wasn't as harsh as you put it and he thought maybe he needed someone to snap at him like you did. To really get it through his thick skull. 

What was true though, is that Tommy was asking questions about the authenticity of the relationship, and Steve knew if you had helped Jonathan- you would've looked at him in a certain way you don't look at Steve so he had to stop you, he was protecting the relationship- but was he protecting you or himself? Whatever it was- he looked like a complete tool in the end and _was_. 

Steve didn't want to lose you, as a fake-girlfriend or a friend- so he set his pride and ego aside, drove all the way over to your house just to apologize to you in person. 

By now, you would be having dinner. He learned that from the few times he called you last week to talk about any updates on the "Nancy and Jonathan" situation. You would answer and say "Call in 30 minutes please, I'm trying to eat" 

He got out of the car, slamming the door shut lightly and going to the front door to ring the doorbell. It took a moment or two before your mom answered the door, she smiled at Steve. By now, you both knew you couldn't shut your mom away from this relationship- so you allowed her to believe he was actually your boyfriend. 

"Oh Steve- you're just in time for dinner, would you like to come in?" she asked, on another day Steve might agree because he'd love to see the look on your face when he joins your family for dinner because you had the cutest reactions to surprises he had taken notice to, but today wouldn't be that day. 

"No thank you, Mrs. (y/l/n), is your daughter here? I'd really like to speak with her," he kindly declined her offer. Thankfully, she didn't push it and called your name. Seconds past until you showed up behind her, the curious look in your eyes that wondered who could be here quickly turning to one of annoyance. Steve smiled awkwardly at you, you looked at your mom to go and she did. 

"What is it?" you asked. 

"I just want to talk about what you said..." Steve said. You observed him, then nodded. Slipping on your shoes, you followed Steve outside and got into his car. Steve took a deep breath. 

"Look- I'm really sorry (y/n), for what I said out on the court- for what happened during lunch today- I'm just...I'm so fucking sorry," he said genuinely, "You've been such a great friend you know? And I just was such an _asshole_ today. I'm just so fucking sorry." He apologized again, and again. You looked at him, seeing that he looked as if it was killing him to be saying this. You sighed, "I understand if you want it to end, okay. I do. I fucked everything up." He cursed at himself. 

You couldn't lie to Steve, right when you got home you trashed the contract in the bin next to your door, and already came to a decision, "I don't know if I want to do this anymore, I appreciate the apology, but after that...I don't know if I want to be the girlfriend, fake or not, to King Steve."

Steve frowned, wiped his face with his hand, and nodded, "Yeah I don't blame you." It was silent now, you two just sitting there as darkness overtook the sky. You looked forward to the empty street in front of you, wondering when it would be appropriate to leave now.

After a moment though, Steve did end up speaking, "It's...cool if you don't want to go to that party tomorrow...I'm sure the whole school heard of our fight...I can just say we ended things there." Steve's voice was horribly depressed, and you knew it was at how he ruined this whole thing. Although, you weren't one to hold back on a promise. 

"No...I'll still go," you said, "Think of it as a last hurrah for this failed attempt of a fake relationship before we both go back to pining for people who don't like us back," you tried to joke to lighten the mood. Steve only half-smiled. 

"Are you sure?" he looked at you.

"Yeah. I'm sure." You two stared at each other with weak smiles for a split second, "I should be getting back before my brothers eat my dinner." Steve quickly nodded, getting out to go open your door. You would've told him he didn't have to, but you knew after tomorrow you'd never see boyfriend Steve again- someone you've grown quite fond of the past weeks.  At least you'd still have friend Steve, hopefully. So you let him open your car door, and walk you back to your house.


	10. Chapter 10

Tina's Party was already underway by the time you and Steve arrived. It came as no surprise to you that Steve would want to arrive fashionably late, walking in and having everyone cheer that he finally made it. You say you got better at this, holding Steve's hand that was wrapped around your shoulders and greeting everyone. Half the varsity swim team instantly dragged you and Steve to the keg stand. 

Steve waved his hand, telling them, "No drinking today, I gotta drive this girl home later and I promised her parents I'd get her home safe." 

They booed, but one of the swimmers you grew quite fond of, Terance, told them all to shut up, "God forbid be wants to keep his girlfriend safe. Don't listen to them Harrington, they've been drinking since seven," the swimmer said, clasping his hand on Steve's back. After chatting with his fellow swimmers for a while, you decided to break off, much to their dismay because to your honest surprise they liked you the most out of the whole school. 

Steve took your hand before you left, and asked where you were going with puppy dog eyes. The swimmer cooed. 

"Come on give your boy a kiss (y/n), we know he can't last 5 minutes without you," they teased, you rolled your eyes and Steve shot you a look. They couldn't see him, his back to them but it was a look asking if it was okay. You saw no harm in that, and leaned up and pecked him on the lips. A smile grew on Steve's lips and you waved at the others. 

"You guys talk about swimmer stuff- I'm going to find a bathroom," you called, and as you walked away even with loud music blasting through the giant speaker of Tina's stereo in the living room- you could hear the guys begin to tease Steve. 

"Damn Harrington I don't think I've ever seen you as whipped before!" Terance had called. Steve waved them all off and replied, "Ah come on guys." Though his eyes did linger on you before you disappeared into the large crowd. Finding the bathroom wasn't very difficult, you had to shove a few already, somehow drunken teens out of your way to get there only to see there was a line. 

Steve did tell you to make sure you went before, but you were too lazy too.

Suddenly, an arm hooked with yours and you snapped your head to the side to meet the eyes of Tina Cline, she was smiling at you as she said, "Come use the bathroom upstairs- nobody is allowed up there." You were going to decline the offer because for one- you didn't want to climb those stairs and two- you didn't like Tina and knew for a fact she didn't like you either. Even though this was her party, you were sure if she could she would've forced Steve not to bring you here. But alas, the girl led you upstairs. 

It was a different house than the one from 8th grade, she and her family moved into a larger one, so you couldn't tell her that you could find it yourself. You awkwardly thanked her before you slid into the bathroom and shut the door, locking it, hoping perhaps she'd leave but as you were doing your business for some reason she started to talk to you through the door which made you shoot a look at the locked door.

"So two weeks into the relationship?" she called through the door, you cleared your throat. 

"Yeah?" you said, you could see her shadow from under the door, she was more than likely leaning on it which made you slightly uncomfortable. Thankfully she didn't respond while you went, and only talked after flushed the toilet and began to wash your hands. 

"I heard you and him got into an argument yesterday." 

 _Of course, you did, you practically fucking stalk the poor guy_ , you thought groggily as you washed your hands. When you didn't respond she said, "What was it about? Was it about what happened in the lunchroom yesterday with that freak Jonathan Byers." 

You mocked her in the mirror, not knowing why she was even talking to you right now. You opened the door and put on the fakest smile ever as she quickly hopped off of the door, "Okay. I'm done. Thanks for letting me skip the line down there," you thanked her. She nodded. 

"Anything for my best friend from middle school," she smiled, and you were sure the both of you knew either smiles were hella fake. You went downstairs quite quickly, trying to get away from her because she was just fishing for gossip and drama. While it shouldn't have bothered you because the relationship was going to end after tonight, it did. Soon, you'd go back to having a normal, non-Steve life. You would be an ex-girlfriend of course, but the school would get over it. 

As you tried to find Steve, you were surprised when you saw Nancy was here. You caught her sitting down on one of the couches with a drink in her hand talking to some of the other teens there you never learned to remember the names of. You pushed through the crowd just to get to her, believing Steve would eventually find you if he needed you. 

"Hey Nancy," you greeted, taking a seat on the empty chair beside them. Nancy smiled at the sight of you. 

"Hey! I thought you were somewhere around here- I saw Steve but not you," Nancy said, you shrugged. 

"He's around and about- he'll find me later," you said. Nancy laughed. 

"How's your first high school party experience?" she asked, you motioned around the room with a groggy look and replied, "Yeah- unorganized, have to push through crowds to get from one room to the other...absolutely horrible, but-" The conversation between you continued, Nancy asking you about how your relationship with Steve was going and you shrugged softly, Nancy tilted her head. 

"Not going well?" 

"It's going great, I'm sure you heard about our disagreement yesterday, Tina cornered me in a bathroom to ask me about it, so I assume everyone else knows now," You crossed one leg over the other and leaned back in the chair. Nancy tried to act like she barely knew but then quickly changed her mind. 

"Yeah- I heard it was about what happened in the lunchroom...he can be like that sometimes," Nancy said quiet enough for only you to hear. You nodded in agreement. 

"Learned it the hard way I guess," you smiled weakly, and Nancy shot you an almost sympathetic look. 

From across the room, not too far from where you and Nancy sat talking, Steve was looking for you. His teammates all broke off into different directions,  the crowd dispersed at the right moment, revealing you sitting on the couch laughing, a drink was now in your hand. He couldn't see who you were talking to, but whoever it was was making you crack up. Steve smiled as you fake wiped tears, liking how were enjoying yourself and not being miserable at least on your final day of being a "couple."

Terance had joined the conversation, along with his girlfriend Annie. Annie was one of the nicer ones, in your grade, auburn hair and green eyes. She was really pretty and nice and she and Terance were another iconic couple at the school. The said Terance was currently cracking jokes about your chemistry teacher- Mr. Sigurdson- that everyone in your small group now understood completely. He was a strange teacher and can be annoying when he wants to. 

You suddenly felt eyes on you, you don't know and glanced away as you were laughing and suddenly locked eyes with Steve. He raised his hand at you, and you waved back. Terance noticed your gesture and looked over, rolling his eyes, "Can you two ever not be making each other heart eyes? I swear." You shooed him away from you.

"We do not-" At least you think you didn't.

"I swear the last two weeks all I hear about is you, which I don't mind, you're a hella cool girl," Terance said patting your leg, you gave him a face, "What! It's true! And look- what is that around your waist-" he gestured to his jacket that Steve insisted you still brought even though a jacket at a party full of sweaty, dancing, and drinking teens was the last thing you wanted to bring, "You two make me sick!" 

"Oh be quiet Ter- I think it's sweet!" Annie chimed in, "Nance don't you think so too?" Nancy set her now empty cup down and nodded. 

"Yeah I do," she replied, shooting you a smile. 

"Wait Nancy didn't you and Steve kind of have a thing?" Annie asked now, suddenly remembering it. Nancy's eyes widened and she looked at you, you pretended not to be paying attention by chugging some of your drink that Terance had put in your hand, it was punch. You think. 

"No- well it was hardly even a thing," Nancy said awkwardly, you looked to her and tried to read her expression. She looked almost sad, and your only thought was _well you can have him after tonight_. Annie hummed in interest. You wanted to cringe how awkward it suddenly became until Terance gagged and got up to run to the bathroom, Annie rolled her eyes and followed after him.

When you were looking into your half-empty cup Nancy was looking at you from the corner of her eye. 

Tommy and Carol joined Steve, tearing his attention from you and telling Steve they want him to chug the keg, but Steve kept declining as before, "No Tommy I told you- I have to drive (y/n) home," Steve said after the third time Tommy told him to. 

"Dammit Harrington that girl's turning you into a bitch," he said, making Steve shoot him an annoyed look. 

"Shut the hell up dude, she's not turning me into a bitch- I just don't want to kill her on the way home due to me being irresponsible," he replied, Carol sighed. 

"Tommy let's just go, clearly he just came to the party not to drink and babysit (y/n) all night," she said rolling her eyes and grabbing ahold of Tommy's hand. Steve raised a brow and gave Carol a look. Tommy noticed the look and quickly asked, "Didn't you and your little girlfriend get into a fight or some shit yesterday?" 

"Yeah Tommy we did because of _you_ making Byers drop his camera- purposely- so fucking thanks for that," Steve replied just as angrily. Tommy scoffed.

"As if you would give a shit about what happens to Byers and his shitty camera," he said, "Clearly you dating (y/n) is some kind of fucking charity case just so you could get her to write your essays or some bullshit reason. Just admit you're just trying to get into her pants already and be done with it I'm sick of her intruding at our table." 

Steve glared at him, "It's not like that dickhead."

Carol suddenly cut in, crossing her arms and saying, "Well then what's the reason, the Steve we know would never be caught dead dating someone like her." 

"And what the hell is that supposed to mean? What's wrong with her?" Steve asked, people around them were starting to notice their arguing, but the music was much too loud to even decipher what they were saying. The conversation between you and Nancy sprang up again, neither of you notice heads turning as people the closest were saying 'Tommy H and Steve are about to fucking fight."

"What's wrong with her is that she's a goody-two-shoes, prissy, social-climbing Nancy Wheeler reject," Carol said cheekily, Steve tensed up slightly shooting Carol a look of distaste. 

"So that's the reason- just as I thought- Nancy Wheeler didn't want to date you huh?" Steve turned his entire body towards him, and Tommy sized him up. 

Steve rolled his eyes and began to walk backward, asking, "You guys are just being assholes for the hell of it, well- fuck you both how about that?" He turned around and Tommy took great offense to Steve's words, reaching over to grab his shoulder. By now, other party-goers attention was completely on them, watching with anticipation. Carol leaned on the wall, her arms crossed. Steve stopped. 

"King Steve can get whatever and whoever he wants but he couldn't get Nancy Wheeler so he had to settle for the less attractive, more annoying version of her- I mean she used to hang with Byers willingly, that freak-" Tommy was abruptly cut off by Steve turning around and shoving him. Then, a fight broke out between the two. 

You didn't even know the situation, sitting there idly minding your business, finishing off your own drink as you continued a conversation with Nancy when- "FIGHT!" was called out from your right, instantly people were nearly trampling over you and Nancy that you dropped your cup and quickly began to huddle onto the couch, covering your face with your arms. When you felt like no one was literally on top of you, you got up and yelled, "What is going on!? A _fight_!?" Steve did not tell you the possibilities of fights, god now you wanted to go home- well that is until you heard who the fight involved.

"Your boy and Tommy are fighting!" someone you didn't even know cried out. Your eyes widened, Nancy shot you a worried look from her spot on the couch. You didn't think this was where the night was going to go, but you were all elbows pushing through the crowd to get to the center, telling people to get the fuck out of the way. 

Tommy had shoved Steve against the stereo, knocking it over and music instantly cut out, the only sound now being drunken students cheering and screaming either Tommy or Steve's name.

Steve's lip was busted open, and there was already a bruise forming on his cheek. Tommy wasn't safe from one either, his left cheek growing red. You managed to push your way through the crowd, with the help of a suddenly sober (well almost) Terance and two other members of the swim team. 

The other two members you recognized as Aiden and Jon grabbed Tommy to hold him back, and you quickly went to Steve's side, "Steve what the hell!?" you asked as he quickly got up and was about to go after Tommy again, but was stopped by both you and Terance. 

"You're a little bitch now Harrington!" Tommy yelled, Carol went to his side. 

"Fuck you, Tommy! You fucking asshole!" Steve yelled back as Tommy tried to push past him too. You didn't know the situation, didn't even care at this point just worried about Steve. 

Tommy shoved the swimmers off of him and took Carol's hand as they pushed through the crowd, just as Tina's shrill voice was crying out from the crowd about what the fuck was going on. When she got to the center, and her eyes landed on you, then to Steve- then to her now broken stereo. 

"What the actual fuck!" 

You looked back to Steve, ignoring her sudden screaming about who the fuck had done this, he was still glaring into the crowd Tommy disappeared in as Terance pat his shoulder, "You guys should probably go," he said, side-eying the stomping and screaming Tina Cline. You took Steve's arm and dragged him through the crowd shouting at them to get out of your way, and they did thankfully it was less hard than getting there in the first place.

"Damn Harrington you got your ass beat-" 

"Would you shut the hell up? You're not even going to remember it," you snapped, scolding them as you dragged Steve near the door. Nancy was right there, and Steve froze at the sight of her. You noticed right away and thought this wasn't the time for him to oggling her. She held up some napkins and then an ice-cold beer and a water bottle you don't know where she got from because water at this party seemed nonexistent, "You know...to put it on that bruise." Steve just stared at her, and you tried not to roll your eyes, taking it from her. 

"Thank you, Nancy," you said, Nancy smiled, letting her eyes linger on Steve for a second before you took him outside and towards his car, never once letting go of his arm. 

Man, in the two weeks you and Steve have been in this fake relationship you already argued, your first actual high school party with drinking involved and Steve got into a fistfight with who you considered to be one of his closest friends. _Damn_.

Steve leaned onto the side of his car, and you set down the can of beer on the top of the car then peeled the napkin apart, Steve watched as you opened the water and wet the napkin, you didn't question at least not right now, your main goal to wipe the blood off of his bottom lip and jaw first. Steve winced as you almost came into contact with the wound, and you cringed. 

"I'm not a doctor," you said, Steve nodded. 

"Obviously," then he laughed weakly as you smiled. You cleaned up the most without trying to touch the wound, then just tossed the napkin onto the top of the car. You then wrapped another napkin around the beer and then lightly pressed the can against his cheeks. Steve groaned from the contact. 

"Let's just get out of here," Steve grumbled, you raised a brow. 

"As in like home? If I go home now my parents are going to be mad that I'm home too early," you said, Steve shook his head. 

"No- let's go to the park or something- probably get some food because all there were was chips and dip," Steve joked, and you laughed as you agreed, "Not too late to order a pizza is it?" You grabbed his wrist and checked his watch. 

"No, it's not too late." Steve stood there for a second, then took out his keys. 

"Can you drive?" 

"Yeah- but I haven't driven in like...months...so..." you eyed the keys and Steve shrugged as he handed you the keys. You stared at them in your hands then shrugged as well, it's his funeral you suppose. 

***

The park was empty this time of night, you both sat at one of the wooden tables, a large half-eaten pepperoni pizza sitting between you two, empty cans of soda, and even an actual ice pack that was awkward to explain at the corner store here in Hawkins when he came in with a bruise up face. The night had gotten a little chilly that you decided to put on his jacket and zip it all the way up. 

"So- I want to know what happened..." you said as you wiped your hands on your jeans. Steve grumbled and leaned on the table. 

"Just Tommy having a big mouth and not knowing when to shut the fuck up," Steve replied, you nodded. 

"Yeah probably- but..." you sighed, "Look Steve- I know I like went off on you yesterday about being different around them, and I gave it more thought- and I mean- I had no right to snap at you like that, I'm not even your real girlfriend so it shouldn't have mattered to me." Steve blinked in confusion. 

"No- no you were right to, I was being a dick instigating it and saying that...mean shit about Byers, but you know, Nancy had told me the same thing before, and after I saw her standing by the door," he sighed, "It just made me realize that maybe that's why she didn't want to date me, because of the same you reason you don't even want to fake date me." You frowned, and he pressed the ice pack on his cheek again, "I'm such a fucking idiot." 

You reached over and grabbed another slice of pizza, "No not really. We're all different around our friends." 

"I'm not different when I'm with you though," Steve said, taking you off guard, "I mean you're probably my only real friend now. Well, you probably always were." You tilted your head confused, Steve wasn't looking at you just staring at the box of pizza motionlessly. You didn't know what to say to that, so you took a bite of your pizza and also looked down at the box. 

Steve looked at you, not sure if he wanted to tell you that he got into that fight because Tommy was saying mean shit about you, he didn't want you to think it your fault or anything. But maybe there was another reason. Steve cleared his throat, "I guess I just feel like I had to hold up my whole King Steve persona because it made me popular and made people like me, or pretend to like me at least." 

You bit the inside of your cheek, and said, "You don't have to do that you know- I don't see you as King Steve, and I think you're pretty cool. That's why I was taken so off guard yesterday and said what I said..." 

Steve felt himself smile at your words, "Is that so?" 

"Yeah- Steve beside Jonathan you were like the only other person I considered a close friend while everyone around me thought you with a douchebag. And all things aside, I've been having a good time hanging out with you every day and even before during our essay sessions, you're a great guy. You're not King Steve to me, you're just Steve Harrington, dorky, cute idiot Steve Harrington who asked me what a transition word was." You grinned as you teased him. Steve scowled. 

"Not everyone has your writing skills okay," he tried to sound offended, but the smile on his lips and the gleaming look in his eyes said otherwise. You laughed and reached forward to put your hand over his that rested on the table.

"The point is, I like you very much if that counts for anything," you said, voice softer. Steve looked at you, then at your hand and felt a warmth spread throughout him. Luckily, it was dark so you couldn't see the pink rise to his cheeks. He tried not to lick his lips, a gesture he does when he's nervous, because of his wound on his lip that thankfully stopped bleeding earlier. It still hurt though. 

"That's nice of you to say..." he said, feeling his voice become suddenly scratchy, "This is why I liked you so much in middle school," he said more to himself, a small smile on his lips as he looked past you as if he was remembering your times together in middle school. You couldn't say that it didn't make your stomach flip and erupt in small butterflies. 

"What?" you asked. 

Steve sees your face and just laughs in that cute way you enjoyed, "Nevermind. Are you done eating? It's getting pretty late, I don't want to keep your parents worried." You nodded, tossing the half-eaten pizza into the box and releasing his hand.

"You probably don't want to come to the door- with that face," she motioned her index finger in circles over his face, and he scoffed. 

"I'll just say I was defending your honor," Steve replied, grabbing the pizza. You raised a brow. 

When you got into the car, Steve claiming he was good to drive- glanced over at you, and you just knew something teasing was going to come out of his mouth and it was exactly what you thought, "You think I'm cute?" You rolled your eyes. 

"King Steve and Steve Harrington both have the same ego though," you commented, Steve waved you off and said, "I'm a cute, dorky idiot fake-boyfriend who you like very much." You wanted to say you were annoyed, that you should've known better to tell him that knowing it could get to his head, but the reality was you didn't regret it at all. You looked to Steve as he started the car, and before he could back out of the parking space, you decided something right away and told him. 

"We're still going to be fake-dating...by the way." 

His eyes widened and he stopped the car halfway out of the spot, "Really?" You nodded. 

"The last two weeks have been the most eventful weeks of my entire high school life, and it doesn't seem like any of us are going to have friends after this anyway. We ruined our reputations in just two weeks, Steve. _Two weeks_. we oughta stick together don't you think? At least until like...our dramatic, ultimate break up that leads me into Jonathan's arms and you into Nancy's," you said waving your hands around. Steve chuckled. 

"That's good news." He started to drive out, a smile on his lips that this thing you had going was still going. You didn't know what the result of this relationship would be, especially for you. Steve might get the better end of the stick in this whole deal, you still resentful towards Jonathan and his condescending looks he would still give you, but at least Steve would be happy with Nancy, of which you would tell Steve about your conversation with her at the party later. You glanced at Steve, seeing his small smile, and thinking you'd be fine if he was the only one to get a happy ending out of this.

He looked at you and you quickly looked away, making it look like you were just looking at the car radio, you even reached forward to turn it on to make it less obvious. To your surprise, a very familiar song blasted through the speakers. It was Hold Me Now, you tried not to look shocked until Steve looked at you and said, "Hey! It's this song!" 

You cleared your throat, "W...what song?" You acted as if you didn't know what this song was. 

"You know! Oh come on- it's the song that was playing when we first kissed!" 

That caught you completely off guard, eyes widening that Steve had just said that. You didn't think he'd remember, he'd recognize that this was indeed the song.

"How am I supposed to remember that?" you lied through your teeth, and Steve groaned.

"Oh come on- you don't remember the song playing during your first kiss? I do," he said, you were going to reply how much a romantic he clearly but was cut off by him beginning to sing. Or better yet, _yell_.

" _You say I'm a dreamer- we're two of a kind! We both always searching for some perfect world we know we'll never find!_ " Steve sang " _So perhaps I should leave here, yeah! **Go far away!**_ " He didn't even sing the end, just yelled it and his voice was not the best. You tried not to smile at his silly singing, but failing miserably and he knew, he looked at you and pointed, " _But you know that's there nowhere that I'd rather be than with you here today!_ "

"Steve I swear-" 

" _Ohhhhhh! Hold me now!_ "

"Please don't- my ears can't handle anymore," you dramatically put your hands over your ears, but that only prompted Steve to lean over to you as he continued.

" _Wooooaaah Hold my heart!_ " Steve laughed at your reaction which was a horrible cringe, " ** _S_ _TAY WITH ME!_** " You leaned forward, almost dropping the pizza box you hand on your lap by how loud and obnoxious and hilarious he was being. 

"Steve- you're such a fucking dork," you said between your laughs, Steve smiled at the sight of you losing it over his horrible singing. 

"What? I'm thinking about trying out for the school musical, think I have a chance?" he asked, you coughed and with a permanent smile on your lips, and replied, "You do have a lot of heart- so _maybe_." He tapped on the wheel to the beat and nodded. 

"Okay I'm giving myself a headache," he said, chuckling weakly to himself. You smirked. 

" _You ask if I love you! What can I say! You know that I do and that this is just one of those games that we play!_ " you began to sing just as obnoxiously, " _So I sing you a new song, please don't cry anymore!_ " You touched his face even and the smile on his lips turned into a large grin, and said in his best impression of you "How am I supposed to remember that!?" He raised both eyebrows knowingly and instead of answering you continued to sing, " _I'll ask your forgiveness though I don't know just what I'm asking it for._ " 

Steve suddenly joined you, " _Ohhhhhh! Hold me now!"_

 _"Woooah hold my heart!"_ you sang

_"Warm my cold and tired heart!" Steve sang the background and both of you nearly yelled, " **Stay with me!!!** "_

 You had to stop because your fits of laughter were ruining the song, even more, neither of you could even breath and Steve had to stop the car for a second on the empty road just to laugh as well because he was sure if he didn't he was going to crash or something.

When he dropped you off at home that night, you laid in bed staring up at the ceiling with a wide smile on your lips, and then fell into a peaceful, dreamless sleep with Steve as the last person on your mind. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> like I said this is a border-line stupid ass rom-com and I am delivering it.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Halloween everyone!! This is pure filler-in sweetness and spookyness I love Halloween and wanted a themed chapter. It's still apart of the story of course and not like some random chapter that won't make sense! Thank you everyone who comments and leaves kudos, it's much appreciated and I adore all of you :')))

You felt bad the moment Steve flapped a bright orange flyer in your face the second you walked out of class and said, "Halloween Party tonight, we're still going right?" You wanted to say yeah, of course, but you couldn't because just this morning your parents made last-minute plans to attend a party all night, and wouldn't be back until later into the night. So, as the older sister of two first grade twins, they asked if you could watch them. And of course, you said yes like a fool. 

Steve saw the regretful look on your face and pouted, "Come on! I told you weeks ago that there's most likely going to be a party. That's why we were working on our costumes," He said, dropping his hands to the side. You whined. 

"Sorry! I forgot okay," you told him about agreeing to watch your brothers and while he looked a little more understanding, you could tell he was definitely still upset that you wouldn't be able to attend. Steve wrapped his arm around you like always and you decided to take the paper from him, reading it. "Halloween Bash at Ter's!' it read in black cryptid writing. With your luck, it was taking place at Terance's house this year, Tina didn't want any more parties after what happened at the last one. 

Ever since that certain party, more specifically the fight at that party, the popular crowd split into two, some on Tommy's side, and some on Steve's, although the reason for the fight went from Steve called Carol a bitch to Tommy just sick of Steve's shit and throwing punches. Whatever the reason was, it was still a mildly popular topic amongst the school because King Steve and his 'best friend' got into a fistfight and Steve lost apparently even though it was uncool for Tommy push him into the speaker, had it been the other way around Tommy would've been the one people were saying 'lost.' Despite all this, Tina was still trying to get on your good side, seeming to put all the blame onto Tommy H for breaking her stereo and speaker anyway. You knew well enough that she was working both sides, seen hanging out with Carol and both of them giving you weird looks whenever you're around. 

You and Steve opted to hang out officially with the varsity swim team and you enjoyed it  _much more_. Mostly because they actually liked you, and you didn't feel like it was forced like it was with Tommy and Carol. The whole 'Well Steve's dating her so I have to be nice' (even though they weren't) and even Steve enjoyed hanging out with them and even told you one ride to school that he wished he'd hang out with them more often and sooner. 

You thought about ways to still go to the party for just a bit, but your parents were going to- well pre-game at one of your dad's co-workers house then drive to the party together right after you get home from school, so you had to be home as soon as possible. You honestly just felt bad. 

You sighed, "I'm really sorry Steve, I just...honestly forgot and you know- my parents don't get out often and my mom is stuck all the time watching those guys." 

"Ah it's fine, you're just being a good daughter and big sister," Steve said as you arrived at your locker, you opened it and began to put in your textbooks and Steve looked into the mirror on the back of the locker door, attempting to fix his hair. It was messier today than normal, and he was struggling so you decided to help him out a bit, Steve even leaned down as you helped move some loose strands, "You might want to apologize to Terance though because it's going to break his heart." You laughed, sticking a strand of hair back and making him look more presentable and less rolled out of bed and ran out of hairspray.

"Terance's heart will heal in time." You joked and Steve laughed loudly.

"You bet it will- but it's whatever, we don't have to go," Steve said, making you perk up a brow at the word ' _we._ ' 

You leaned back, looking up at him and replied, "Steve you could still go you know, I don't want to keep you from going. It won't kill Steve Harrington to show up without his girlfriend to _one_  party." Steve shook his head. 

"Nope,  I don't want to have fun knowing that you're at home with two rowdy brothers and going what-  _trick or treating,_ " Steve slightly mocked the word trick-or-treating as if doing that was anything but enjoyable. You had to laugh. 

"Trick or treating is fun, especially with my brothers, and besides, we don't just go  _trick or treating_ ," you said mocking the way he said it. You shut your locker and hugged your binder to your chest with both arms. 

"Oh really what else do you do?" Steve asked.

"Well every year we make caramel apples, carve pumpkins, cook and eat pumpkin seeds- oh and Hawkins is having their Fall Festival of course. I don't know if we'd go to that since my parents are taking the car though," you drifted off as you talked, "I guess I can attach a wagon to my bike and you know- it would take a while but-" Steve blinked. 

"Okay (y/n) please don't do that, I'll take you and your brothers to the festival," Steve offered, well it didn't sound like an offer more like a 'this is what I'm going to do I don't care what you have to say.' Though you still attempted to tell him no. 

"No- go to the party Steve, I already said it was okay," you tried. Steve leaned back on the locker a bit, eying you with this dumb look and shrugged, "And go to a party without the Jennifer to my Marty? No way that's sad." You smiled at that, weeks ago you decided to go as Marty McFly and Jennifer Parker from the Back to the Future movies, going to a bunch of thrift stores later and you both had a costume that resembled their outfits quite well. 

Steve suddenly reached towards you, and curled his fingers into the loops of your jeans then pulled you in close. When he had first done this, he warned you and you still weren't ready, but now you actually kind of liked when he did it (especially when he does it when you know for a fact that no one is watching, that he just does it because he wants to but whatever, be still heart of mine) He gently rested his hands on your waist. 

Down the hall, Jonathan came out of the restroom, eyes adverted towards your locker out of habit and when he saw you being cozy in Steve's arms, he had to quickly turn away and roll his eyes. Marlene was nowhere to be seen, she and Jonathan hardly talked anymore since you started to date Steve. He had been more alone these days, more to himself, but you didn't notice it at all. 

"I don't want to force you to stay in Halloween, I know how much you love your parties," you said, Steve sighed. 

"It won't sit with me right, come on- it's alright, I'll tell Terance I'll be spending Halloween with you, you know he's a big romantic when it comes to us," Steve grinned cheekily, while you laughed and nodded in agreement. 

"Yeah it's really weird, he's going to be sad when this ends huh?" the moment you said it, you didn't notice the frown on Steve's lips by what you just said. The frown only lasted for a second, then replaced with a weak smile. 

"His heart will heal in time," Steve repeated your words in a quiet voice. You giggled.

"It will." 

The first bell rang, and Steve released you in order to carry your binder for you, and asked, "So what are your brothers going as?"

"Andy is going as a cowboy, and Ethan is going as a literal cow-boy." You recalled Ethan announcing he wanted to go as a cow because if Andy was a cowboy he'd need a cow as his trusty steed. You and your mom were too choked up to tell him that cowboys didn't actually ride cows, but who were you to tell him he was wrong when it was in the literal name  _cow_ -boy. So she stayed up many nights making the perfect costume for him. Steve aww'd.

"That's adorable!" 

Steve spent some time at your house, but it was never for a long amount of time for Steve to get to know your brothers mostly because when they came home and saw Steve there they'd immediately run or ignore his presence completely. They were quite shy, except Andy was much more shy than Ethan. You weren't going to lie and say you weren't curious as to how they'd react when your 'boyfriend' takes them to all the fun Halloween places, maybe they'd like him. 

"You know," Steve said as he wrapped an arm around your shoulders again, "We don't have to waste the costumes, we're going to wear them anyway." You laughed. 

***

Terance was disappointed upon hearing the news that you and Steve, his favorite couple, weren't going to be able to make it, "That's bogus." He scowled at you two like a disappointed father seeing his kids staying in on the weekends and never going out. But when you explained your situation and that you both were taking your brothers to a fall festival, then trick or treating, and spending the night together- he was a little more understanding like Steve said he would be. 

"Just please think of the children sleeping in the room over alright?" Terance said giving you both a look a parent would give their daughter when they say no hanky panky. You blushed and Steve gave Terance a look, "Relax Terance, what are you, my dad?" Terance shrugged as he bit into a piece of cellary he for some reason had. 

"Just saying! I'll tell you how the party is," Ter said. You laughed out loud.

"If you remember it, you didn't even remember Steve getting into that fight at the last one and you even helped stop it!" you pointed. Terance cringed. 

"I remember parts, but whatever- see you at practice Steve!" he said, beginning to walk faster. You watched as he disappeared into the crowd, and then snickered. 

"Gotta love that guy," Steve said awkwardly, neither of you wanted to bring up that he suggested you two would fool around, though the both of you knew there was no way that would happen the thought still made you two slightly quieter when you walked to his car and he gave you your bike. 

When riding home, you made a quick pit stop at the store to buy the items needed to make caramel apples, there were a lot of people buying last minute bags of candy but it didn't take you very long. When you got to your house, your parents were about to leave, both of them dressed like Wilma and Fred Flintstone. 

"Okay, so you know Mrs. Thomspon is dropping the boys off at-"

"3:30 I know," you said as you set down the shopping bags. Your mother nodded as she wrote down some numbers you could call, and then putting it onto the fridge.

"We should be home around midnight, probably later than that," she explained, "This is Mrs. Thompson's number if you need a ride somewhere, Ada and John's number, the number of the hotel the Halloween party is at-" she pointed to the various numbers as you took out the apples. She looked over at you and smiled, "You're still going to make the apples?"

"Yeah! I think we're going to the festival afterall, if that's okay. Steve offered to take all of us," you said, your mother raised a suspicious brow at how casually you mentioned Steve. You wouldn't of noticed anything if she hadn't of stood there silently and crossing her arms. You blinked, "What?" 

"Nothing, just...what are you and Steve going to be doing? Is he just taking you two to the festival or?" she asked carefully, you shrugged. 

"I don't know, he's going to be over later actually after practice, and help me finish these. We were supposed to go to Terance's Halloween Party, but I forgot about it and already agreed to watch Andy and Ethan so," you explained, "So he invited himself to help watch them, and take them trick or treating and get pumpkins at the festival and all that." 

Your mother hummed, "Okay, he's not going to be here all night though is he?" 

"Why would he?" you replied as you recounted the apples making sure there were six of them. 

"No reason-" 

Your dad entered the kitchen, twisting his neck side to side and then gawking at the apples, "Make sure you save two of them for me and your mom got it?" he pointed at you and you grinned. 

"Of course, dad," you said, he smiled winningly. He loved caramel apples the most, and always cherished the one he could have made by you and your mom, claiming they were the best and there just wasn't any one else out there like them even though you follow a simple recipe that everyone does if they were to make them. He claims that because it was made by his two favorite girls, which made your mom smile and you gag. 

At that moment, there was a knock at the door, and your dad quickly went to go answer it while saying, "Jeesh are kids trick or treating already it's only 2." He opened the door to see his daughter's boyfriend standing there dressed like Marty McFly instead of a group of kids and had to laugh. 

"Great costume kid," he said, shaking Steve's hand. Steve laughed and looked at your dad's costume and replied, "Better costume sir." Your dad chuckled and called back to you that Steve was here. You turned around wondering why he was, you weren't expecting him to show up until at least 3:00 because that's how long practice usually lasted. And you saw he was actually in costume while you were still in the outfit you wore to school. 

"Practice ended early, Terance managed to convince me and our coach," he winked at you as if he read the question you were about to ask in your mind. 

"Oh are you going to be spending Halloween here?" your dad asked, actually less suspicious than your mom did surprisingly. Steve walked into the house, running his hand through his now not so messy hair and looked at you for the answer. You nodded, "Yeah, if that's okay. I can't go to a party with him, so he wants to be here so I wouldn't be bored or something" Your dad laughed. 

"As long as he's gone by 9," he said, Steve nodded right away. 

"Of course, I wouldn't want you guys to think poorly of me, I'm a gentleman, if your daughter wants me gone earlier I'd leave," Steve said right away, cheeks turning a slight pink. Your dad laughed and slapped his hand on his shoulder. 

"Good, good," he said, then checked his watch, eyes widening. 

"(y/m/n), we'd better get going!"

Your mom was putting money into an envelope, handing it to you and saying, "This is for dinner, it should be enough for a pizza, and also tickets for the festival and some pumpkins." You took it from her and nodded, placing it next to the flower pot on the dining room table. Your mom grabbed her purse and kissed you on the cheek good-bye, then your dad did. He was already by the door when your mom was saying good-bye to Steve, and said quietly, "Hands to yourself, you hear?" Steve's eyes widened and nodded. 

"I hear Mrs. Flinstone," he replied, your mom chuckled and then said good-bye one last time before your dad was tapping his watch. 

When they were gone, it was just you and Steve now and while Steve suddenly became embarrassed once more by another person assuming you and him were about to fool around or something, you went about into the kitchen and began to get the items needed to make the caramel apples, not noticing Steve's eyes nervously on you. It was when you took out a pot and set it on the stove when you asked with a playful smirk, "You just gonna stand there and stare McFly or are you going to put on an apron and help?"

Steve shook out of it, and smirked as he removed his bright orange vest and said, "Just tell me what to do." 

You let Steve remove the stems of the apples and insert popsicle sticks inside, there were only six of them so that didn't take him very long so while you were still melting the caramel you made him open and crush the peanuts you bought so that kept him very occupied. With your back turned you'd hear a crack, then a  ** _bam!_**  The first time he did it so hard you almost dropped the spoon. 

When you looked at him he looked quite silly and cute, he forgone the jean jacket and only wore the flannel with the sleeves rolled up t0 his elbows, then he wore the hot pink cupcake apron you've had since you were 15 that your mom made you when you went through a 'want to bake anything and everything' phase. He was covered in peanut shells, and he was smiling the whole time. It made you laugh. 

You continued to mix the caramel when Steve said, "So you do this every Halloween then?" 

"Yeah! It's actually pretty great, my mom has always made them even before my brothers were born, and when I got old enough I wanted to help her, and sometimes when we're all able to be home at the same time we do it all together," you explained as you recalled fond memories of being a little girl sitting on this exact kitchen counter and watching your mom dip the apple into the caramel sauce as she sang Elton John's Tiny Dancer. Or that one Halloween when you were all sitting in here, your brothers were toddler's at the time, sitting in their high chairs while your dad cut up pieces of the apple for them and they were laughing at the puppet show you were putting on for them with your oven mitts. You remembered they were dressed as sheep. 

Steve was leaning back on the counter, arms crossed and smiling at the sight of you going down memory lane. Although, it kind of made him sad and you didn't notice because you were too deep in the memories, so you continued, "It's really fun, they're almost old enough to dip their own apples too. Then we'd carve pumpkins, put them in the window, go trick or treating. My dad would stay behind to hand out candy, and we'd meet Joyce, Jonathan, and Will and all go together." Now you were a bit sad but quickly shook it off, not wanting to make a happy memory sad or wanting to depress Steve even though you already did but for a different reason you didn't know.

Steve still watched you, his smile falling for a just second. You sighed and looked at him now, "What about you? Do you just go to parties on Halloween?"

"Yeah, kind of, you know go to the party, get  _sheet-faced_ as us teenagers like to call it, be a dumb teenager, go home, get yelled at by my dad then crash and have a major headache, get yelled at by my dad some more in the morning," Steve said, making you frown. He wasn't looking at you now, just looking down with a distant look. You turned down the flame on the caramel and approached him. He only glanced at you. 

"Well...what about as a kid?" you asked curiously. Steve scoffed and you knew that it wasn't towards you. 

"Nothing, we didn't do any of this," he motioned around at everything including the decorations, "I never dressed up until middle school when I moved here and met you and the others, we never took trick or treaters either, carved pumpkins, what I got was candy from my mom's coworkers, and they weren't very good candy not compared to what the other kids at school would bring." 

Steve was frowning deeply, not meaning to get suddenly this open and deep with you about this non-Halloween experiences as a kid to now, but it just happened and you weren't mad or frustrated that he was bringing down the mood. It made sense, you thought, how he reacted earlier when you said you were going trick or treating, You simply leaned on the spot next to him and nudged him softly. He looked down at you, seeing your look of understanding and sincere, and you said, "Well then technically this is your first Halloween. Allow me to make it your best one, hm?" You grinned, and Steve eyed your smile for just a moment before smiling too. 

"Yeah...I trust you could actually," he replied. 

Just then, the front door opened and both you and Steve jumped expecting some kind of robber when in reality it was your two brothers and the blonde Mrs. Thompson. They ran into the house wearing their costumes, Andrew in his cowboy one, then Ethan in his cow costume, tossing their backpacks onto the couch and yapping away at each other about their day at school, already dumping small candy bags their teacher had made for the whole class onto the floor.  

"Your parents already left (y/n)?" Mrs. Thompson called, you quickly moved away from Steve and nodded. 

"Yup about an hour ago," you replied, she crossed her arms and nodded. 

"Oh alright- well-" she paused when she saw Steve standing in the kitchen, and then looked at you and asked, "That's your boyfriend honey?" quietly. You blinked slightly and nodded, "Oh...well...alright!" she smiled at Steve and then turned around, "Happy Halloween you guys!" and waved. Steve awkwardly waved back and she was out of the house, the door slamming shut behind her. You turned to your brothers who suddenly began to argue about how Andrew wanted the M&M's but Ethan wouldn't trade him for it. 

"Hey guys! Relax! You're going to get even more candy tonight," you said, walking towards the kitchen. They looked at you, then continued to argue. You rolled your eyes, "Also, guess what..." They stopped now and looked at you. 

"What?" Ethan asked, you grinned and pointed to Steve. 

"I got us a ride to the festival," you said, instantly the two kids hopped on their feet and cheered, they really thought they were going to have to skip out on the festival this year, "We're going to finish up the caramel apples first, then we'll get going okay?" 

They nodded simultaneously. 

You went back into the kitchen, seeing Steve watching your brothers with a smile, and asked, "Okay which is which again?" 

"Andrew is the cowboy, Ethan is the cow," you replied, "Andrew is the more shy one, and Ethan is loud." Steve hummed. 

Your brothers seemed to barely acknowledge Steve's presence and instantly they shrunk in their spot, shy when it came to meeting new people. When they met Jonathan, it was easier because they were still really young and in a way grew up with him always being with you. You were surprised they weren't questioning yet where Jonathan has been, you even have answers prepared. Your mom had asked not too long ago, wondering why he doesn't visit anymore and you just told her he was busy a lot with his photography but he says hi! Hopefully, she believed you. She didn't ask any further questions. 

"You guys want to watch me dip the apples?" The shy facade that Ethan was putting on disappeared and was replaced with excitement. 

Dipping the apples was fun, your brothers came wandering into the kitchen to watch as you and Steve did so, well it was mostly you. Ethan warmed up to Steve quickly, while Andrew hung back and climbed up on one of the stools to watch from afar instead while Steve helped lift Ethan onto the counter so they could watch you. You dipped your finger into the caramel first, giving it a taste and moaning in delight. 

"Yup that's always great," you smiled, Steve huffed and stuck his own finger in and took a taste, eyes widening. 

"Damn that  _is_  great," he agreed and you both shared a laugh. Steve handed you one of the apples

"What! Why does Steve get to taste it, that's not fair!" Ethan cried from his spot, you waved him off and replied, "Because he can, you can have your apple afterward!" Ethan pouted and Steve laughed. 

"Sorry little man," Steve said while still laughing and Ethan crossed his arms glaring at you. 

You dipped the apples, Steve took them from you, dipped only 3 of them in nuts and the other 3 were just in normal caramel and when you weren't looking Steve lifted Ethan up to let him get a taste of the caramel. You acted like you didn't notice, then when Andrew saw Steve did that he even let Steve lift him to get the caramel too. You were washing your hands, and it wasn't as if you couldn't see them through your peripherals. You just decided to ignore it. 

The apples were done and would be ready to eat when you guys would come home from the festival, you were planning on after trick or treating just pigging out in the living room with perhaps pizza and candy. It wasn't a school night either so that meant you didn't have to make sure the boys got to bed early. 

You were just going to leave wearing the outfit you already were wearing but Steve crossed his arms and said, "Will I be the only other dork there dressed up?"

"Hey! Who are you calling a dork!" Ethan said, crossing his arms too. Steve cringed. 

"Me, not you kid," Steve replied, then chuckled at Ethan's tiny glare, his eyes went back to you and you groaned. 

"Fine, I'll put my costume on too, jeesh," you said as if it even took much convincing. The truth was you did work hard on this costume, finding the right clothes for it that you thought you should at least be in costume like Steve was. And it's not like you'd be the only ones, that was the fun thing about Halloween, everyone dressed up, and this costume as Jennifer Parker was certainly different than the same bumblebee costume you wore for the last 3 years. 

After putting on your costume and Steve being left satisfied of now everyone being dressed up, you were on your way to the festival, you sitting in the front seat and your brothers in the back. You honestly hadn't expected the day to go this way, you thought that most likely if Steve wasn't there with his car they'd not want to ride in a wagon and instead nap until it was time to trick or treat. You looked at Steve who seemed concentrated on the road more than usual most likely because of the two first-graders sitting in the backseat. 

The festival was already underway, you and Steve walking side by side and you holding Andrew's hand who was holding Ethan's. Ethan was excitingly talking about the things he wanted to do, like the hayride, and the petting zoo. 

"I've never gone to this, this looks actually fun," Steve said, eying 'Hawkins Fall Festival' sign on an archway decorated with leaves in fall colors, and two lanterns hanging on each side. There was a hayride, a pumpkin patch, and even a hay maze. Also, did Ethan just say a petting zoo? Steve had to admit that sounded absolutely great. It was mostly parents with their kids, a few teenagers here and there, walking out with pumpkins and stuffed animals they'd won at some of the games there. 

You went to the ticket booth first, pulling out money but Steve stopped you. 

"No- I'll pay for the first round of tickets," Steve said, taking out his wallet. You were going to stop him, but he was already trading the cash in for tickets. Your eyes widened at the amount of tickets he bought that you figured you wouldn't even have to pay for a second round. 

"Woah you didn't have to get that much," you said. Steve shrugged as if it was nothing.

 "My treat, come on it looks like we have a lot to get through!" he looked at you, then at your brothers who eagerly agreed. Ethan released Andrew's hand and ran over to Steve, looking quite adorable in his cow costume. 

"Wait up Steve!" he cried, and Steve laughed as Ethan took his hand. You blinked at the sight then looked at Andrew who looked up at you and shrugged. You followed after Steve and Ethan, Ethan seems to be leading the way for Steve because he wasn't quite sure where to go. Marty McFly walking around with a miniature cow was making you bubble up with laughter. 

Ethan led Steve to the hayride first and foremost, the line not very long. It was a wagon that could fit about 12 people that was being pulled by a tractor, it looked like it went all the way around the festival and ended at the pumpkin patch across the way. Ethan was telling Steve how they all get their own pumpkins and when they get home after trick or treating they like to carve them and cook then eat the seeds. He was also boasting about how since it was Friday he and Andrew were allowed to stay up until 10 today, and since you were the one in charge today probably even later which meant that there would be more time to eat candy. 

Steve laughed, "That sounds great little guy." 

"Ethan!" he corrected Steve, Steve cringed and corrected himself.

You and Andrew caught up, having been sidetracked by looking at the band playing on the stage, but you were now standing in line. 

"You have to sit on hay?" Steve asked, looking to you. You nodded. 

"They're comfortable don't even worry," you said, "You'll see all the things you can do on it." 

There was an elderly couple who got in line behind you, Steve, and your brothers, and for some reason, their eyes softened at the sight of you and Steve dressed up, and the kid's costumes too. The tractor returned empty now, and the person working the Hayride, dressed like a scarecrow, started to let people in. Steve paid the ticket toll and ended up helping Ethan onto it first, then Andrew, then you, and he even helped the couple behind you, who barely made the cut for 12 people. They thanked him, and then Steve climbed on, taking the empty spot next to you on the edge with Ethan and Andrew both sitting across from you. 

Steve shifted in his spot, "Yeah it's pretty comfortable, although I think I'm about to get hay in my jeans," he said making a face then laughing. You chuckled. The tractor began to move now, pulling the wagon you all were in along. Steve watched the festival closely, eyes lighting up at the sight of all the festival games you could play to win prizes, he bet he could win at least one thing, especially when he saw the baseball throw with the milk bottles set up. He could definitely do that, he looked over to you seeing you just enjoying the fall weather and just being there in the moment. His eyes lingered on you for a moment, just when Ethan said, "The petting zoo!" 

His eyes turned to look at the petting zoo, seeing different goats and ponies, and kids feeding them food from cups the workers were giving them. 

Then, there was a haunted house, the sounds of screams and laughter coming out from it. There were shining, flashing lights in the front, a line of teenagers and even some children so it still meant it was children friendly or those kids were pretty brave.

"We going in there or what?" Steve asked. You looked over to it. 

"No way, they scare super easily," you said, Steve looked at them again seeing them chatting amongst themselves about he assumed the petting zoo. The hayride came to an end at the pumpkin patch, where there were numerous rows of different sized pumpkins sitting on stacks of hay, people of Hawkins were picking some up, laughing with their families. You told your brothers you would go here last, the pumpkins never run out so you wouldn't be getting like the leftovers. 

You decided to go to the petting zoo first, Steve paying for each of you to have at least 2 cups of food, Ethan and Andrew sat with one of the female workers with one of the smaller goats and she was helping them feed the little brown goat, and she even complimented their costumes. You and Steve were petting the pony along with a group of other kids and adults, Steve laughing at the feeling of the pony eating the food from his palm. You couldn't help but be laughing too at how he was laughing. It was stupidly adorable, like watching a kid for the first time doing this. 

You almost tripped over a pile of hay when leaving the gate to get to your brothers and Steve dropped his cup to catch you, "Be careful (y/n)!" You were still laughing as he pulled you close to him. The pony instantly went to the dropped food and began to eat it, making you and Steve both laugh. 

"We're all out!" Ethan whined, with Andrew staring longingly into his empty cup. Steve laughed and pulled out more tickets, handing them to the workers and getting two more cups for them. 

You were washing your hands in the sinks they had set up on the side leaving Steve watching them, and you ended up turning to see Mrs. Thompson with her husband and son. She smiled at you kindly, and she was like, "I didn't know you were here! Are the boys here too?" 

You nodded, pointing over to them still hogging one of the goats with Steve leaning on the gate watching them closely, "They're over there with Steve, I'm done feeding and petting." You patted your wet hands on your jeans. 

"Oh I think this is more fun than the last festival, honey how about you and Steve go off on your own for a bit, we'll keep our eye on Ethan and Andrew," she said, you blinked. 

"Wait really?" you asked, she nodded. 

"Yeah! We were just about to catch the little play they put on about Halloween, we can take them and you two can do whatever you want for the next 45 minutes, it's no hassle besides Jimmy loves hanging out with them." You saw no harm in it because Mrs. Thompson was usually the person who watched them whenever you weren't able to, and probably would've been the person your parents asked had you said no to babysitting. You trusted her, so you thought what the heck, you and Steve could go through the haunted house now if he still wanted to. 

So you let Mrs. Thompson take them off your hands for the next 45 minutes, or so, and Steve was a bit excited because the first thing that popped through his mind was that you could now go through the haunted house. You could tell he was trying to play it cool as if none of this was as exciting as it was, but you could tell because he was the one literally dragging you the line of the haunted house, which wasn't that long in the first place. 

When you were walking there, you had to wade through all of the games and one of the prizes for one of them was a cat wearing this witches hat that you had to admit you wished you could play right and win because it was cute. Steve noticed you looking at it, and looked at it himself, he smiled and pulled you along still to the line.

There were sounds of thunder, and cheap jumpscare music, flashing lights, then a witches laugh that you started to wonder what even the theme of the haunted house was because you also heard a wolf howl then someone say "I vant to suck your blood!' To be honest, you were quite nervous even though it looked like a cheap little haunted house with people probably in masks jumping out at you in every corner, but you couldn't help the nervous beating of your heart and Steve even noticed. He laughed and wrapped an arm around you. 

"Relax, it's just people in masks," he said, you chuckled. 

"I know, I don't know why I'm so freaked out," you admitted, he just chuckled and pulled you closer to him. You wondered if he was doing this because there were actually some people from school here you recognized, some looking over at you and then whispering to their friends. You pulled your attention away from them though, not even really paying them any mind anymore. 

The line grew shorter, and soon you were at the front, Steve paid the worker the 4 tickets for both of you, and you walking through the front door, pushing the black strands of fabric that covered the entrance out of your faces. It was as anyone would expect in a haunted house, the first being a hall of mirrors, plastic skeletons falling from the top which you hated that scared you so bad you grabbed onto Steve. He laughed, allowing you to hook your arm with his as you navigate through the haunted house. 

Steve was mostly leading the way, and as you turned a corner into a new section of a haunted house, a person dressed to look like a zombie popped out and even Steve jumped. The next room looked like some forest themed room with zombies and a werewolf at the end snarling right in your ear to which you gave a dirty look to. It was the witch in the next room that got you real bad, not expecting her to run out from behind the cauldron and scream in your face. You tried not to act like a frightened child but was failing when you gripped Steve's arm tightly and even screamed. 

Steve seemed to be having a good time but was having an even better one with how scared you actually were. It was amusing he had to admit and made feel a bit macho with you holding onto his arm as if he could protect from these people in costume. It went the other way around though when towards the end, there was a damn clown.  _A clown_. Steve had never been to a circus, never seen a real clown in his life, but this one just popped out of nowhere that he grabbed your hand and literally ran out of the haunted house, pulling you along before you even registered it was a clown who scared him that bad. 

Once outside, you both were laughing your heads off, having to take deep breaths to try and breathe properly again. It was ridiculous and for some reason, you two thought it was the most horrifying thing! You were leaning on Steve as you were trying to gather your bearings and Steve had to steady you. 

"We're such babies that wasn't even scary, but damn did that clown scare me," Steve said between his soft laughs. You nodded in total agreement. 

When you were both were done laughing, Steve suggested you two head to the carnival games, and you replied with, "Ugh I never win any of them anyway. It's all rigged." 

Steve scoffed, "Yeah probably, but come on, let's just play." He held up the rest of the tickets, and you shrugged. 

"Alright but when you're out, you're out," you said following him to the festival games. There were many of them, but Steve seemed more drawn to the milk bottles one. If he's able to knock down all of them by throwing a baseball three times in a row he'd win first prize, which was the stuffed cat wearing a witches hat that you thought was very cute when walking over there. You looked at Steve who was busy ripping the tickets apart to give to the worker who was dressed like Dracula. 

"Alright! First throw! McFly is up to pitch!" Dracula said, Steve looked concentrated, holding the ball in his right hand then throwing it, with a loud cling! All the bottles fell to the ground and you didn't even think before you clapped along with Dracula, "Nice one! One more you win a lollipop, two more hits like that you win this!" he pointed to the cat and you just thought to yourself  _please hit two more_. Steve took the second ball, and just as concentrated as he was the first time, hit them dead on. 

Dracula handed him the lollipop, to which Steve handed to you, "Alright! One more then!" 

Steve licked his lips, rubbing his hands together in a way that made you think made him throw better or something, you honestly didn't really think he'd be able to hit them all a third time as you watched Dracula set them up again, you half expected that when he threw it, the wind would like suddenly pick up and it would land a few feet away instead, not hitting any of the milk bottles, but when he did throw it- all of them came down and you threw the lollipop as you cheered. 

Others had even clapped too as Dracula announced he won the big prize and handed him the stuffed animal. Steve thanked him and turned to you with a smirk on his lips. 

"Did you do that just to show off?" you asked cheekily, he shrugged. 

"Well, it's in my nature to try and impress a girl I'm with," you rolled your eyes and he looked down at the cat then suddenly tossed it at you. You reacted quickly, catching the cat with both hands, he winked at you and said, "Yeah I saw you eying it." You blushed and looked at him then back at the cat. 

"Thanks. I tried not to be that obvious, but I guess I was." 

Steve laughed, "Did you really try though?" You both walked away from the booth, and you smiled warmly down at the stuffed cat, touching the little hat. 

You ended up playing more games, Steve seemed to only have luck with the Milk Bottle Toss, but the rest of the games were just so fun that even if you didn't win you didn't regret spending the tickets. You did end up winning at the beanbag toss though, winning this small scarecrow with button for eyes, straw for hair and a crooked sewn-on smile that you thought was charming. You tossed it to Steve, and he almost dropped it. 

"Amazing, thank you very much," he said with a grin, holding it up and trying to mirror its smile which made you bubble up with laughter. Steve's cheeks turned red. You were having a really good time with just Steve, the funnest you've had in a while and it really felt like you two were actually just a couple having a good time on a date. You don't remember ever laughing this much when you used to go to this festival with Jonathan, usually you would just play a few games and eat food and talk and watch him take photos. Not that that wasn't fun, you thought it was, but this was a different kind of fun that you liked and it was because of Steve.  

You bought two small bags of popcorn and went to find your brothers to give them so they wouldn't be disappointed you had a stuffed cat, and they didn't have anything. Your brothers were standing with Mrs. Thompson and her son Jimmy, running around with these plastic toys in their hands. To your surprise, they each had large bags of candy already and when you asked where those came from Mrs. Thompson told you the actors in the play gave them it. Andrew excitedly ran over to you, showing you his candy and even forgetting about his shyness with Steve as he said, "Look! It came with a plastic shark inside (y/n)! Look Steve!" he showed it, and Steve was like, "That's awesome! You like sharks?"

"Yeah! They're so cool! We learned about them in school and-" 

Ethan cut him off, saying that dinosaurs were cooler than sharks and then that made them argue while Jimmy just played with his toy car and ate a candy bar. Steve joined in on the conversation, "I mean they're both cool but sharks are..." 

You had to laugh and thanked Mrs. Thompson for watching them. You turned back to now see Steve arguing with them about which was better and you literally facepalmed, "Hey! Let's go get pumpkins alright?" Stopping both Ethan and Andrew, Steve didn't look done with the conversation but he did stop and turn to you. 

"Great idea!"

As you had said before, there were still a lot of pumpkins left, last year you got the best pumpkins because you helped out at the pumpkin patch and hid the best ones in the back for yourself but this year would have to do. Your brothers instantly brought you both to the smaller pumpkins, liking to have one they could carry on their own. You and Steve hung back as they picked some up, then set them down. After they would pick theirs, you would go get one larger pumpkin. Steve told you to go ahead and he would watch them, hell he even went over to help them decide which ones they wanted as you went towards the bigger ones. 

Some of them were simply large, beautiful pumpkins that you couldn't really decide which one you wanted. As you touched some and turned some, someone suddenly called out your name. You turned your head to see none other than Will Byers, Jonathan's little brother. He ran towards you excitedly and you smiled brightly as he hugged you. 

"Hey! I haven't seen you in forever!" you said happily. Steve heard you and looked over, seeing Will and recognizing him at Jonathan's little brother. 

"Same for you too," Will replied, "Where have you been?" 

You shrugged awkwardly, "Around. How are doing? Dungeons and Dragon campaigns treating Will the Wise well?" you asked.

"Yeah we just did a 10-hour long campaign, but it was cut off because I had to go home, but hey check out my costume!" he showcased the Ghostbusters costume and you laughed with pure joy of how cute he was, "And you're uh...Jennifer from Back to the Future!" he pointed out, you nodded. 

"Yup!" 

Steve was holding one of the pumpkins that Andrew chose, a mini one that he enjoyed while Ethan was still deciding. Andrew was standing by Steve's leg, and said, "I'm really tired." Steve looked down at the cowboy seeing him leaning on one of the empty spots now on the haystacks. Steve felt bad by how tired the kid looked, and told him to just sit there for a bit and he was going to made Ethan choose a pumpkin so you guys could go home and rest before you start going trick or treating, maybe he would suggest bringing the wagon you were originally planning on bringing them to the festival in. 

"Okay here, just do this," Steve said to Ethan, "Eenie meenie minie moe, catch a tiger by it's toe if he hollers let him go eenie meenie minie moe," his finger landed on the one on the left, and Ethan frowned. 

"But I want the other." 

"Then it's decided, come on your brother is tired and you probably are going to be too," Steve said, Ethan nodded eagerly and picked the pumpkin up. 

As you chatted with Will, someone called his name, a familiar voice and Will looked over to see Jonathan walking towards him, Will waved at his older brother and pointed at you, "I found (y/n)!" You didn't even fight the frown on your lips at the sight of Jonathan, and Will noticed. He cringed because he figured you and Jonathan had a falling out, he wasn't stupid because it happened right after Jonathan started talking to Marlene and you started to date Steve Harrington. It was strange how he knew all this information, but regardless if Jonathan was mad he was talking to you, he would just say that only they got into a fight, not himself and you. 

"Oh," Jonathans stopped just a few feet away and awkwardly said hi to you. You simply waved. 

Steve at first didn't even notice Jonathan, just holding both hands on your brothers as he approached you saying, "Hey (y/n) Andy looks about to pass out for the next hour or so, so let's pay for these and leave before he does!" You snapped your head to Steve and so did Jonathan and Will. Jonathan didn't even try to hide the annoyed, jealous look on his face that not only were you here with him, but he was also growing close to your brothers. He was also annoyed that you were both in a couple's costume too. 

Much to his surprise though, Ethan said, "Hi Jonathan!" 

Jonathan smiled fondly at him, "Hey Ethan, hey Andrew." Andrew, never really used to anyone except for members of his family, smiled shyly at Jonathan. He knew this already about the younger twin. 

You pursed your lips together, not sure exactly what to do now and really not wanting to talk to Jonathan like this, Steve thankfully just smiled and said, "We should go now..." 

"Yeah! We will! It was good to see you guys again, Happy Halloween!" you said too quickly, Will nodded and walked by Jonathan and Jonathan didn't even reply. You took the first pumpkin you saw and then walked over to Steve. After paying for the pumpkins and even looking back to see if Jonathan was gone, you let out a shaky breath. Steve looked at you curiously, but didn't want to question you about it until you got home or at least were in the car. 

Steve ended up carrying Andrew, holding the small pumpkin in his other arm and Ethan walked closeby to you carrying his in both of his hands. Jonathan and Will were also leaving, your cars not very far from one another and when he saw you both again, he couldn't help but stare longingly at you, especially when you turned and laughed at something Steve said, and perhaps for the first time he felt a bit of regret of what happened between you too. Although, the fact that it was Steve that was making you smile made him mad. 

Will gave his brother a confused look as to why he wasn't in the car yet. 

In the car, it was a bit silent you were looking at the stuffed cat still, messing with its hat and Steve asked, "Well that was awkward, man if looks could kill I'd be dead, you see those daggers he was glaring at me?" You laughed breathlessly. 

"Yeah I know, he just annoys me at this point. I mean even if he likes me like you say, he doesn't have to continue being a douche to me. I wish he'd just tell me," you said, Steve nodded, listening to you. 

"Eventually he will, probably, I don't want to get your hopes up I know you hate that." 

"Eh, whatever I'm not going to let that ruin a good-day," you held up the cat, and Steve smiled softly. 

"Yeah, same." 

***

When you got home, you all ate your separate caramel apples which Steve found delicious, and when you got done trick or treating around 7:30, and ordered a pizza that Steve went to go pick up while you were helping your brothers carve their pumpkins. They eager watched as you carved in triangle for eyes on Ethans, then vampire teeth. He originally wanted a dinosaur but you really didn't have that type of carving skills. Andrew wanted Steve to carve his, wanted a large bucktooth smile and square for eyes like glasses. On yours you decided to go for just star eyes and a smile with one tooth, already have it drawn on the pumpkin and ready to carve after you were done with Ethan's. 

Steve came not too long after you finished carving your own, and Andrew excitedly begged him to carve his pumpkin first so Steve did so while you set yours and Ethan's on the table by the open window, lighting up the candles inside so people walking by and could see it. 

Steve ended up carving it pretty quickly and good, and even smiling at his and Andrew's work. You couldn't say you weren't impressed that Andy liked Steve so much, even to let him carry him and carve his pumpkin, he was like you've said before a very shy kid but took a quick liking to Steve. You wanted to tell your mom because she'd definitely think that was crazy too. 

You all sat down in the living room now, pumpkin seeds cooling down on the counter and an open pizza box in front of you all, and half of Ethan and Andy's candy on the floor, Ethan shared with you and Andy shared with Steve. It was around 9 at that time, and you were all watching movies, occasionally having to get up to hand out candy to late trick or treaters. 

Eventually, Ethan and Andy fell asleep on a pile of blankets and pillows on the floor while you and Steve were lounged comfortably on the couch. You were sprawled across uncomfortably that Steve ended up just grabbing you and allowing you to lay on him. You might've protested, finding it too weird but you too were completely tired like the rest of them. Steve was supposed to be gone by 9, it being now 11:00 but you were having so much fun that you lost track of time. 

You had a big day, you thought, and so did the boys, as you sleepily rested your head on Steve's shoulder you asked, "Did you have a good Halloween?" 

Steve glanced down at you and said, "I did, it was the best Halloween ever, it's weird to be tired from chasing around your brothers all day, and not from partying." He laughed restlessly at his own joke that you snickered at, "But seriously, I had a great time today. Thanks." You nodded sleepily, closing your eyes. 

"Thank you too..." 

Steve leaned back comfortably into the couch, wrapping his arm around you and shutting his own eyes. Both of you fell asleep in each other's arms. 

It was about an hour when Steve woke up again, now you were both laying on the couch, you snuggled next to him and resting your head on his chest. He was confused as to where he was at first, but when he saw your mess of hair and your sleeping face, he realized he must've fallen asleep too. Then he saw the clock read a bit after midnight, and he should really be getting home. 

Although, he didn't seem to want to move you, loving the way you looked snuggled in his arms against his chest. He even moved your hair off your face, making you nuzzle your face into his chest. 

Steve had to smile warmly, feeling his stomach flip at how cute you were. For a moment, he'd forgotten that you two weren't actually a couple, and he thought 'my girlfriend is so cute' he wouldn't even notice that's what he thought in his half-awake mind. He had a great day, that wasn't a lie, and he would go as close to say that that's the most fun he's had in a very long time, certainly beats going to a party with drunk teenagers. He just got to spend the whole day with you, someone who actually liked him for him, and then your cool little brothers. In fact, he didn't even want the day to end but he did promise he'd be gone by nine and it clearly was way past that. He should really go before your parents came and stopped trusting him. 

Waking you up was easy, he simply poked your nose a couple times and you woke up, snapping upwards and thinking that your parents just caught you doing something you weren't supposed to. Steve laughed, telling you it was just him and he had to go. You climbed off of him, stretching your arms and then looking around, seeing your brothers dead asleep and candy wrappers everywhere. You grimaced because you knew you'd have to clean this up when you woke up tomorrow morning. 

"What time is it anyway?" you asked with a yawn, not even realizing you were just sleeping on top of Steve just moments again. 

"Way past 9 o'clock," Steve said, slipping his shoes on. You looked at the clock with raised eyebrows, then hummed. Steve stood up, fixing his hair even though it was hopeless at this point. You walked with him to the door, him grabbing his car keys and opening the door, he turned around to you and said, "Thanks again for the great day (y/n)."

You nodded, "Of course, thank you for taking us and paying for like...everything..."

"Anytime, I like hanging out with you and your brothers," he said, you felt lightheaded slightly by that. Steve was about to tell you good-night, and one last Happy Halloween even though it was now November 1st, but then you did something he really didn't expect. You _kissed_  him. Right on the lips.

You leaned up and pressed your lips against his. Steve was taken back by it, not expecting you at all to kiss him. It happened very quickly that he couldn't even react then and there, so instead he stood in the threshold of your door like a love-struck idiot who's crush gave them a peck on the cheek after a nice first date. You didn't even mention it, or apologize like you probably would. You just smiled up at him and said, "Drive home safe." 

Steve snapped out of the small trance, eyes meeting yours for and nodding, "I will, goodnight sleepyhead." 

"Goodnight Steve," you replied, leaning on the door. He smiled awkwardly as he walked backward, then almost tripped over the step. Steve managed to save himself, landing on his feet awkwardly and then shooting you an embarrassed smile. You looked like you were asleep on the door, didn't even see it or probably won't even remember it. Just like you wouldn't remember that kiss you just gave him. Before he started to drive, he looked at the small scarecrow you gave him resting on the dashboard and smiled to himself.

It wasn't going to be something he was going to forget, because as he drove his lips were still tingly. For sure it was the  _best_  Halloween.


	12. Chapter 12

The hard truth was that you did remember kissing him when you woke up the next morning and Steve would never know because you wouldn't bring it up nor would he. You woke up well rested the next morning around 10 am, still wearing your costume and mascara smudged underneath your eyes. You had a dreamless sleep, and felt very well rested save for the aching of your feet from walking around the entire neighborhood all night. 

You dressed out of your costume and put on a pair of sleep shorts and a t-shirt. As you sat in front of your mirror, wiping the make up from underneath your eye you started to think about your day with Steve yesterday. You felt your stomach flutter as you remembered how fun it was, how much you enjoyed it and how much your brothers did too. You were smiling like an idiot at yourself in the mirror that if someone walked in and saw you they might think you were crazy. 

As you begun to brush out your hair, you started to wonder what time he left, there wasn't much you remembered except...waking up on his chest? Your froze, remembering how when you were woken up by something poking your nose you could think about how comfortable you were in your sleep-wake form. And when you realized that it was a person, and that person was in fact Steve you shot up confused. You wondered how it even got like that.

Oh but then, but then you remembered something worse. You froze once more, the smile falling from your sleeps and replaced with wide eyes and your jaw dropping in a gasp. _Did you...did I kiss him?_ Your memory was fuzzy, but as you remembered it became less hazy and more clear. You were standing by the doorway, Steve was standing in front of you and you suddenly were overwhelmed with an urge to kiss him, like really. You looked at him, then you looked at his lips and then you just kissed him. _Why did I kiss him!?_ You asked yourself horrified, feeling embarrassed suddenly.

What would he say when you saw him again? Would he ask you what it was about, would he say 'Look I know we're fake dating and all, but we made an agreement okay this isn't real' and you would have to say something like 'Relax! I don't like you like that Harrington I was sleepy is all!' But was the even the case? Emotions of embarrassment and shame went over you all at once that you had to set aside your brush and look at yourself in the mirror to keep yourself too far from freaking out. To calm yourself down, you asked yourself the main question, why did you kiss him? 

The day was such fun, and Steve really knows how to show a girl a really fun time you admit. And he was just so sweet with your brothers that he even Andrew got out of his shell in just one day. Suppose in your half-awake state you'd forgotten you two weren't really dating, and you just decided to smooch him like a girlfriend would do when her boyfriend leaves. That was probably it.

Although, the beating of your heart and tingling of your lips as you remembered exactly what it felt like to kiss him again that you wouldn't admit you loved and dreamed about since that closet in 8th grade, was saying otherwise. You looked in the mirror once more, biting the inside of your lip when your eyes caught sight of the little black cat stuffed animal laying on its side next to your pillow. The one Steve won you. 

You turned around, grabbing it and laying down on your bed, holding the cute cat up and examining it and the memory that came with it. 

"I saw you eying it." Steve had said when he tossed it at you then winked, which was something he was great at. It was so casual, as if he just won it for you for no reason when there was one. He saw you liked it, and he wanted to win it for you. How sweet of him, you thought, touching the little ears that popped out of the witches hat with a dreamy faraway look. 

Then there was the Haunted House before that, how Steve held you whenever you screamed, how he had a protective grip on you and when he got scared he didn't leave you stranded he actually took you with him. It was so much fun, the most fun you've had in a long time and Steve was the reason for it. Then, when you all went trick or treating how Steve carried Andy the rest of the way because his feet hurt and how he even went door to door holding him so he could still get candy. 

And about- okay relax (y/n), you quickly stopped your thoughts about how sweet and caring and dreamy Steve Harrington was, you were making yourself blush and forget about the fact that you and him were not dating. This was just a ruse, a fake, one that had a beginning and definitely would have an end.

Still, as you looked at the cat you felt nothing but warmth and conflicted feelings. You felt like you knew Steve Harrington more now, more than anybody else and that made you feel special. How he opened up to you about never having a Halloween in his childhood, the way you brought up his spirits the entire day and gave him another reason to love Halloween like you did. You turned, laying on your side and continuing to look at the cat. 

That kiss went through your head again, replaying multiple times that you found yourself yearning to kiss him again and again. You suddenly stopped, shaking out of it and feeling that damn feeling again. These damn newfound feelings you've been pushing down suddenly making its arrival again.

You wished perhaps there was someone to talk to, somebody you trusted enough to let in on this not so little secret of yours, someone you could tell about all this, to give you advice or to call you stupid for thinking it would be a good idea. Like of course someone would catch feelings and you were stupid to let it be you. You couldn't tell your mom, imagine how that conversation would go without telling your mom about the fake-dating thing.

"Hey Mom...I think I'm catching feelings for Steve." 

"Uh...you think you're catching feelings for your _boyfriend_?"

You laughed bitterly at that, picturing your mom's confused face. 

Jonathan was your only closest friend that would've trusted, but he's the reason you're in this mess and questioning your feelings for Steve in the first place so that was off the table. There were Annie and Terance, and as much as you loved those two- they weren't exactly prone to not gossip, and it wasn't really Ter's fault, all he does is talk and it might randomly slip out. You'd hate to let the cat out of the bag, it would make the situation much harder. 

"(y/n) and Steve weren't actually together? And she started to fall for him? Hah!" 

You cringed, you couldn't have that. 

You thought about Steve now, who was your closest friend who you've opened up to before and trusted with your life secrets, but he's the exact person you're having conflicted feelings about and really didn't need to know about them. That would just embarrass you more, there was no way.

A thought, probably the worst thought, was Nancy. You and her have been getting closer as friends now, talking in between classes every now and then even having random study dates in the library during the free period when Steve would go hang out in the gym and play a game of basketball. While perhaps she could be someone you could trust, that clearly wasn't an option just like Jonathan wasn't. 

Suddenly, your smile fell from your lips as you remembered Nancy, then remembered the exact reason for all this. Steve liked Nancy, he wanted to be with Nancy, not you. And you liked to think that Nancy would eventually want to be with Steve when this all ended. That was the ending, Steve living happily ever with Nancy Wheeler and you the foolish girl who fell in love with someone she had no business falling in love with when she knew she wouldn't end up with the person in the en- _stop it you’re not in love with him_. What you and Steve had wasn't real, it wasn't based on two people who liked each other and wanted to be together just to be together. It wasn't anything like that, and that was a cruel reminder that you shook you out of your dream and wondering about your feelings. 

Still, why was he so sweet to you at the fair? Because he had to be? There were so many people there from school, people who knew you and Steve and maybe Steve knew that. Maybe he was paying attention and did all that just to put up the show much better. How people would talk. 

You knew Steve was better than that, you knew that even if you weren't fake dating and just hanging out, he'd still win you it because you asked him too. Although the thing was that you didn't, he saw you, he was watching you and knew you wanted it. He went to play the game with the goal set in mind to win it for you. Wasn't that something? The frown on your lips grew even lower, and you felt your heartache suddenly. You were overthinking things, Steve wasn't into you, and you were just...sleepy and in some kind euphoria like state from yesterday. Steve wasn't being a boyfriend, he was being a friend. That was it. 

So, you stood up, and went to your closet. You opened it and reached upwards to move the other stuffed animals you saved from your childhood that included a bear, a rabbit, and another bear, and set the cat all the way in the back. Silently, you moved the other three back to their spot, covering up the cat so you no longer could see it even when you opened the closet to get some clothes. You shut the closet door and took a deep breath, burying those feelings you were starting to have for Steve down once more and vowing to not bring up that kiss with Steve or anything else from that day unless he spoke first.

And luckily for you, when you saw him that next Monday morning he didn't say anything just a good morning. While you thought you were in the clear, your eyes fell upon the scarecrow you won him still sitting on the dashboard, it's button eyes looking at you, and smiling at you with that crooked smile. You gulped. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is going on hiatus for a few weeks just until my school semester is over during the second week of December; afterwards it’ll be updated like crazy and so will another story of mine! Thank you for reading so far and please stick around!! This story isn’t over yet as you can tell it will have 25 chapters :)))


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